


Time of Our Lives

by katychan666, slyfighter2011



Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Annisa Bane (Magnus’ mother sorta OC), Dancer!Magnus, F/M, Flashbacks, High School AU, Homophobic Slurs, Jock!Alec, M/M, More will be added as we go - Freeform, Multi, Past Abuse, Past Domestic Violence, Roger Branwell is Lydia’s father, Slow Burn, Theodore is Underhill’s first name in this fic, we both suck at tagging bare with us
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-30
Updated: 2018-11-06
Packaged: 2019-05-16 05:50:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 79,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14805575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katychan666/pseuds/katychan666, https://archiveofourown.org/users/slyfighter2011/pseuds/slyfighter2011
Summary: It's Alec's senior year at Alicante High. Him being a star football player and his father's constant wish to see him excel at everything he does puts him under a lot of pressure. That year, the team gets a new coach, Luke Garroway who suggests a rather interesting solution how to get Alec on top of his game that year, taking a ballet class. Alec isn't amused at all, but his opinion on the dance class changes soon when he meets the talented and gorgeous dancer and a fellow student, Magnus Bane.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> HEYYY! It’s S&K well Slyfighter and Katychan666!
> 
> We’ve teamed up to bring you -drumroll-  
> You guessed it!
> 
> a new fanfiction between us both!!  
> Isn’t that exciting! ;)
> 
> Cause we’re both very excited to bring you this story!
> 
> We hope that you love it, as much as we are going to love writing it!
> 
> We’d also love to see and hear about what you think! In the comments or you can hit us up on Twitter @CassiAnime (for slyfighter2011) and @Katyc04090227, we also have a hashtag #TOOLBYSK feel free to use it and tag us both and also follow us! And let’s not forgetting we also have tumblr! Follow us @mylifebecamemalecthings (slyfighter2011) and <@katychan666; is the same as on here!
> 
> So without further a duo!
> 
> Onto the story!
> 
> Enjoy!

_5:30am - September 1st_

Magnus peeked from under his eye mask at his clock, five thirty in the morning on September 1st. Summer was officially over, as he groaned tossing his arm back down. Lingering in with the thoughts of how he didn’t have to wake so early or have to rush perfection. Magnus tossed back the comforter he slept under, sitting up on his bed. Wishing that he could feel even a slight bit excited for _his_ senior year, because it was his _senior_ year. Magnus Bane wasn’t in the slightest excited for it, mainly because his two closest friends. Well, they’d graduated the previous year, and all Magnus had this year was Raphael Santiago. Which meant that he was mostly on _his_ own this year. His eyes rolled as he began washing his hair, thinking about Raphael. They got onto each other nerves far to easily, it was better to handle Raphael in small doses.

While Magnus knew that Ragnor and Catarina were only _mere_ hours away, upstate attending college at NYU—New York University. That they’d seen one another as often as the could, but it wasn’t going to be the same. The last three years had spoiled Magnus _that_ was for sure. Even if he did know he had a flare for the dramatics, the year wasn’t going to be the same without them. That much he knew.  

_6:45am_

_“No one puts baby in a corner.”_

Magnus whipped his head around towards the tv, he’d forgotten that he’d put the movie on after he gotten out of the shower. While it was his favorite movie, _his_ go to movie when he was feeling as he was. Especially, since Cat nor Ragnor wouldn’t be there. He was feeling bummed, and this movie always cheered him up. While Magnus had been applying his makeup, he’d been absentmindedly listening to it. He knew it by heart, so of course when the iconic scene came on.

Of course Magnus Bane was gonna watch it, that's for _damn_ sure. Dirty Dancing was and is an iconic movie, that was something Magnus Bane would argue until he couldn’t breathe. It was what had sparked his love for dance. Because for Magnus when he was young, it was his way of escaping his troubles. A place where no one could touch him, especially _his_ father. Just thinking of that man sent shivers up his spine, made the blood in his veins run cold. _Asmodeus Bane_ , was not what you call a nice man. Not in the least, from the youngest memory that Magnus could remember. That man was either drunk and abusive, or just abusive towards him or his mother.

Everything changed when Magnus had been eight, it was the night she told him that she was leaving _with_ Magnus. That night was a night Magnus tried not to think about often, because Magnus had witnessed his father try to kill his mother, and himself. Another shiver had ran down his spine, had it not been for their l neighbors at the time—the man might have gotten away with it. Since Asmodeus attempted on their lives it had earned him twenty years to life imprisonment.

“ _MAGNUS!”_ That was his mother—Annisa calling him from the bottom of the stairs. “You are going to be late, darling.” She’d came up the stairs. His mother walked with a limp, because of his father. His mama had said he hadn’t always been like he was, she didn’t know what had changed him. Magnus knew that some part of his mother still loved _that_ man. Magnus didn’t understand it. “Mama, it’s only seven. I’ll be fine.” He flashed her his signature smile. It wasn’t like Magnus Bane was gonna leave his house until he saw the lift in Dirty Dancing between Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey. Alicante High could just wait until then, they only lived a few blocks from it. Magnus had went back to placing his finish touches on his makeup and outfit choice. His mama had just shook her head, as she listened to him singing ‘ _I’ve had the time of my life.’_

**

September 1st, the end of the summer time and beginning of the new school year. Alec should be probably excited that it was going to be his _senior_ year, but he just didn’t care. He was the star football player of the school, many colleges would be happy to have him on their team, but that didn’t matter to Alec, at least not anymore. Alec trained hard the entire summer, Robert making sure that he never got out of form, taking it upon himself to train his son, as he used to be a football player himself when he was Alec’s age. The entire family was pretty famous for being great at the sport and while Alec was doing amazing, he just didn’t _care._

So because his father was so obsessed with Alec’s training, it didn’t really feel like summer. Alec hated summer, because that meant being at home. At least if it was school year, he got a few hours of freedom from his father. It wasn’t like he liked classes, but it was still better than being stuck at home and having to listen to his father and train with him. He never dared to say anything to Robert, but playing football wasn’t fun for him anymore. Once upon a time, he liked the sport, actually. But all of the fun was taken out of it by the constant pressure to excel at it that his father put him under and now he just didn’t care anymore.

Alec did give it his best as he didn’t want to disappoint his father. Because of him his team once lost a game and Robert didn’t take it quite well. He called him a _disappointment,_ telling him that with that attitude he’d never achieve anything in his life, so Alec tried better after that. He _wanted_ to be better for Robert’s sake as he wanted to be finally acknowledged, but it was never enough. No matter how hard he tried, it was never enough, not even being the star player of the school was not good enough for his father. What more could he want?

Alec was just so fed up with everything and he couldn’t wait for the school year to pass and that he’d go to college, move away to the campus and be away from his family. Maybe then, he would be finally able to _breathe_ and live his life properly, because at the moment he just felt so trapped. Alec had heard that they were getting a new coach and he kind of wondered what kind of a person he was going to be. Worse than the last one probably no.

Alec was walking to school with his younger sister, Izzy and his adoptive brother, Jace. His smile widened a little bit when he looked at Isabelle, who was explaining how excited she was about the new school year. His sister was what you’d call a _nerd,_ she wore big glasses and had her hair in a braid. But even though she was a nerd, she didn’t really get made fun of. Her good looks attracted many unwanted attention from the other guys at school and if someone looked at her in a wrong way, Alec quickly interfered. Yes, he was a bit overprotective when it came to his sister. But, that was just who he was. And then there was Jace, his family adopting him when he was 10 and since then, he and Alec had been best friends, brothers. Alec _liked_ Jace, but what he didn’t like was being constantly compared to his brother. Both of them were on the school’s team and his father constantly compared Alec to Jace, saying that he should be more like Jace, that he should fix his attitude towards the sport and Alec just rolled his eyes, groaning. His father was such a pain in the ass.

“Everything okay, big brother?” asked Isabelle and looked up at Alec, who shrugged and then put his hands inside of his pockets. He didn’t know what to say, so he just kept silent and Jace hummed when he watched the other one. Alec had been distant the whole summer and Jace had an idea of why that might had happened.

“Still not over Lydia?” asked Jace and Alec slowly perked up, looking to his brother’s side and he narrowed his eyes. Lydia? Right, his ex-girlfriend. She used to be the head cheerleader of the school and with him being the star football player, they made a perfect couple. They were what you’d call a _popular_ and _hot_ couple of the school, people would point and stare at them when they’d walk down the hallways of the school together. Having everyone’s eyes on them was annoying, Alec hated being under the spotlight, but there was nothing he could really do.

And he liked Lydia, unlike the other girls on the cheerleader team, she was nice and easy to talk to. She wasn’t stuck up like the others and having her as a _girlfriend_ was easy. They talked, went to movies together, exchange a kiss every now and then, but that was it. Alec didn’t get it why people said that kissing should feel like magic, feeling like fireworks. They were bonkers in his humble opinion. Kissing Lydia felt _nice_ , but he didn’t get any butterflies in his stomach. Well, not if he wasn’t thinking of- Alec groaned and then shook his head.

“I’m over Lydia,” said Alec and rolled his eyes. What was with all of these questions? He and Lydia broke up at the end of the school year after she graduated and went off to college. Alec suggested that they should try to make the long distant relationship work, but then he let it go. He could see Lydia wasn’t truly happy with where their relationship was going, so he decided to let her go. Yes, he occasionally missed her, but it wasn’t like he was heartbroken over the break up.

“Then, why the long face?” asked Isabelle and looked at him.

“Just… first day of school,” he lied and let out a nervous laughter. “You know what I mean?” asked Alec and Jace wrapped an arm around his shoulders, nodding, because he knew what Alec meant.

“I feel you, man. This summer just flew by,” said Jace and then sighed, but then pulled Alec closer, who gave him an odd look. “But we’re seniors, dude, _seniors!_ ” said Jace proudly and lifted his arms up in the air and let out a happy sigh. “Finally, we’ve made it. Just one more year and then we’re off to college,” said Jace and Alec gave him a meek smile.

“Yeah,” said Alec weakly.

“Come on, show a bit more enthusiasm than that!” complained Jace and shook his head. “You’re free and single now as am I,” said Jace and Alec felt his stomach making a little jump. Yes, that was true and he groaned because he knew where that was leading. “Oh, I hope we get some new girls to our class,” said Jace and waggled his eyebrows. “There’s plenty fish in the sea and the two of us,” said Jace, pointing to him and Alec. “Will attack like sharks!”

“Really mature,” said Izzy and rolled her eyes. “You’re not going to get anyone interested in you with that attitude,” said Isabelle and Alec smiled, because he was on Isabelle’s side. Besides dating was such a pain in the ass. With Lydia it was fun, they were just hanging out, but now that she was single and once the word would get out, girls were probably going to be lining up at his side. That was annoying. Jace liked that, of course he did, but Alec just didn’t care. He liked hanging out with girls, but he wasn’t _interested_ in them in that kind of a way and slowly it was beginning to-

“Here we are,” said Jace and sighed happily when they were standing outside of the school. “Alicante High,” said Jace and Alec looked around. The school was crowded, he could see some of the freshmen looking kind of nervous and a little grin spread across his face. Ah, yes, the first day of high school was quite nerve-wrecking, back then was when he actually still gave a shit about- “Alec!” He heard someone calling him and Alec and Jace both looked up towards the sound.

“Yes?” Was the answer Alec gave, once he witnessed who it was, Alec silently groaned. It was Jonathan Morgenstern, he was new to Alicante High _and_ a senior as well. Jonathan was also his new Coach Garroway’s step son. “What’s up!” _Nothing? But what do you want?_ Alec was thinking, wanting to head inside before first bell. Alec was also watching at this creep checking out his sister ass, as she had turned the opposite direction as someone called her. Having purposely ignored Jonathan’s first question, the guy had thrown his arm around Alec’s shoulders. “Say who's that hottie!” Still watching Jonathan checking out _his_ little sister.

"The _hottie_ you're referring to is my little _sister_ and if you ever as much as lay an _eye_ on her again I'll make sure that will be the last thing you ever do," said Alec, his voice low. He didn't like the guy at all and the overprotective brother that he was, he sure as hell wasn't going to allow to prey on his sister like that. No way, not on his watch and he was going to make that annoying grin on his face disappear.

  
Jonathan started laughing as he unwrapped an arm from his shoulders and raised them up. "Hey, I meant no harm," said Jonathan and Alec crossed his arms on top of his chest. The idiot wasn't taking this seriously at all, all was just a joke to him and people like that pissed Alec off to no end. "Come on, we're all friends here. Don't be like that, _pretty boy_ ," said Jonathan and Alec silently groaned. That _idiot_ was far away from ever becoming his friend, but Alec didn't bother replying. He just wanted to get to class. The first day of new school year was completely ruined by this moron. Alec knew it shouldn't get to him, but it did.

“Don’t let him, bother you?” Jace said and Alec huffed under his breath and then nodded. Right, Jace was right! He shouldn't allow an idiot like that ruin his first day of school.

“Guys,” said Isabelle as she was checking the time on her phone. “We should really get going now or we'll be late for the assembly,” she said because she was never late for anything and both Jace and Alec already knew that listening to Izzy was their best option. You did not want to cross Isabelle when she would get angry.

“Yeah, let's get going,” said Jace and Alec gave him a nod and the three of them finally made their way inside.

  



	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, S&K here!
> 
> We are so happy that everyone had enjoyed the first chapter!!  
> We thought we’d give you another XD  
> So here comes the second one!
> 
> Please if you have Twitter use our hashtag #TOOLBYSK or @CassiAnime and @Katyc04090227 and feel free to follow us! We also have tumblr! Follow @katychan666 and @mylifebecamemalecthings 
> 
> We’d just love to interact with you all! 
> 
> If you have neither feel free to comment your thoughts below! We appreciate it! 
> 
> Now onto the story.

Magnus was late, he was running so late and he cursed when he looked at the time on his phone and he groaned. Crap, what a wonderful way to start the year! Honestly, he wanted to slap himself for not listening to his mother, who  _ warned _ him not to be late. He got too distracted with watching the movie that he has completely forgotten to pay attention to the time and when he next checked the time, he was catapulted on his legs, because the assembly was starting in five minutes. He quickly said his goodbyes to his mama, grabbed his bag and was on his way to school, wanting to slap himself mentally. But, oh well, he got to see the end of the movie, so in his humble opinion it was worth it.

Magnus sighed as he walked to school. Yes, he walked, he didn't  _ run _ even though he was being late. Magnus Bane might have been an excellent dancer, but he hated running, so he  _ walked. _ Besides, he looked far too good to mess up that perfection with running. It was first day after all, so first impressions counted. His make up and outfit were on point and he wasn't about to risk ruining that with  _ running _ . Then again, Magnus knew he always looked good. That was one of the things he was confident in and he liked bragging when it came to his looks.

Magnus still felt pretty bummed out about Catarina and Ragnor not being there at the school anymore. Sure, he got along with other people, but it wasn't the same; Catarina and Ragnor were his  _ best _ friends, he spent all of his free time with them and now there was just going to be a big emptiness following him around the school. The other people were just his  _ classmates _ , but not really his friends. Well, there was Raphael, but Magnus shuddered when he remembered how annoying he could get. He sighed and then tried to motivate himself to be a bit more positive about this whole thing; Ragnor and Catarina had always showed him that keeping a positive outlook on life resulted in good things. So maybe he was going to get some friends this year, meet new people.

_ New _ people. Magnus groaned, he didn't want  _ new _ friends. It wasn’t that he didn’t like making  _ new _ friends. It had more to do with his past, it  _ was _ letting people in past all that. Magnus had known Ragnor and Catarina since elementary school. He would’ve graduated with them last year, but because of the things that happened with his  _ father.  _ Everyone thought it would be best to hold him back a year, which had made Ragnor and Catarina a year ahead of him. So, that had him here at Alicante High by himself. Which he was late for, but he was never late. Everyone else was just early. 

Magnus tried creeping into the gym, where the assembly was always held. It was almost a habit of Magnus that he come in late, not that he tried. It was what just happened. Not realizing how loud the creek the door made when it opened, or how loud it was when it shut either. “Well, Mr. Bane so glad you could join us.” That was Principal Imogen Herondale, who was giving him a rather unimpressed look.

Magnus rolled his eyes and silently groaned and could feel the eyes of other students on him. The gym was packed with people and everyone was looking at him. Magnus Bane didn't mind being under the spotlight, but  _ this  _ kind of a spotlight sucked.  _ Grandma  _ Herondale, as the students liked to address her behind her back, wasn't going to let him off the hook that easily. She valued punctuality and Magnus had a… history of getting in trouble just because of that.

“I'm sorry,” said Magnus and started searching for an empty seat. He just wanted to sit down and blend in with the others. Without Catarina and Ragnor around he felt a lot less confident and he just hoped that the woman would let it go. “Please,  we’ve heard it before, Mr. Bane. Take a seat, hopefully someone can fill you in on what you missed thus far.” The woman could be ruthless that was for sure. It wasn’t as if he actually meant to be late today! Sitting on the bottom bench among this excited and nervous freshmen. It was nauseating, to see such happy faces within this school on the first day. 

**

Alec wasn’t paying attention to what had been going on at the assembly at all. Why should he? It was all the same every year. First the vice principal, Jia Penhallow, welcomed all of the new students and wished all of them a school year full of good grades and warned them about the school rules. Jia Penhallow was strict, but Alec liked her, because she had clear rules that students needed to follow and he respected that. Following rules was what he was good at and he rarely got in trouble at school. And even if he did get in trouble, it obviously wasn’t his fault, but Jace’s as his brother usually got him in trouble.

Alec looked over at Jace, who wasn’t paying attention at all and Alec rolled his eyes when he saw that Jace was playing with his phone. Seriously, so irresponsible! Alec himself wasn’t paying attention, but at least he had some  _ common decency _ and had his phone away. “Jace,” whispered Alec and nudged Jace with his knee. “Can’t you at least  _ pretend _ you’re listening?” asked Alec and Jace groaned.

“It’s  _ boring _ . Same every year,” whined Jace and Alec rolled his eyes.

“Just put the phone away, Jace,” said Alec, annoyed. He didn’t even know why he was so annoyed with Jace, he didn’t really do anything wrong. Alec was always keeping himself under control, was constantly on edge and he had moments like this; snapping randomly at people and saying things he didn’t really mean to say. The two of them continued to bicker for a bit more, until Isabelle, who wasn’t sitting far away from them decided she had had enough of her brothers.

“ _ Zip it, _ ” she hissed as she turned around to shush her annoying brothers. Both Jace and Alec stopped bickering and looked down, Isabelle satisfied when she saw that she had the boys under control and then she turned around again. Honestly, she loved both Alec and Jace, but sometimes they behaved like children.  _ Ugh, boys. _

Alec then sighed and went back to listening, Imogen Herondale, the principal of Alicante High, stepping in front of everyone and Alec looked around the place. The gym was packed, but apart from the freshmen, no one was paying attention. Not really. Kind of funny, actually. Principal Herondale then introduced two new teachers, Jocelyn Garroway, the new art teacher and Luke Garroway, the new P.E. teacher  and the new coach for the Alicante High football team. 

It hadn’t been more than a few minutes of  _ Grandma _ Herondale something everyone called her. It was never to her face, but  _ everyone  _ called her that behind her back, mostly anyways. Alec heard the familiar squeak of the gym door and his as well as everyone’s eyes had fallen onto Magnus Bane. Already annoyed with Jace over having his phone out, and then having Izzy getting onto him. His level of annoyance was high. So Bane wasn’t helping with the interruption of announcements. It had been an every year thing with him. No consideration of being on time. 

Alec rolled his eyes when Bane apologised; if he was really  _ sorry _ for running in late, then why not come on time for a change?! Alec’s eyes followed Magnus as he went to take a seat and Alec noticed that Bane was uncomfortable with everyone staring at him. Well, it served him right, there should be consequences for coming in late.  _ Again. _ He narrowed his eyes when Magnus started talking with the fellow students and he groaned again. 

Alec didn’t really know a lot about Magnus Bane, other than that that he was always seemed to be running late for things. “What did you say?” Jace whispered, looking up from his phone he’d gotten out again. “Nothing.” Alec hissed in his annoyance with Bane and Jace. Both were completely inconsiderate people of those around them, they didn’t care if they were being rude. “Really, Jace, didn’t we just go over this.” Looking at Jace who’d gone back to his phone. “Well, it’s  _ boooring _ . I can’t help it.” Jace whined again about it being boring.  _ Yes, it was _ Alec could give him that, but at least seem you are paying attention to what’s going on.

“Seriously, you two.” Was Izzy again, “Quit bickering.” Was what she hissed harshly at them in a whisper. Alec gritted his teeth, “See, there you wouldn’t have know about seniors to get their schedules, with you being on your phone  _ Jace _ .” Rolling his eyes hard as he’d gotten up to leave. Alec also was Bane getting his schedule first, even though he’d came in late. Principal Herondale should’ve made Bane go last, or something. It seemed far to him, but he was possibly being a bit childish. 

First it was Jonathan that had hit on his sister  _ to  _ him, then having to sit through this boring assembly, and Jace on his phone coupled with Bane doing his usually bit of being late. It had place Alec in a horrible mood, and now with getting his schedule. To see that he had  _ Art _ with Mrs. Garroway, his coach’s wife. 

Alec knew nothing about her besides behind his coach’s wife, she seemed nice enough as she sat there when the principal introduced her. “Who do you have first?” Was Jace came up running beside him, as he was in the hallway outside of his classroom. “Art, you?” Alec said running a hand over his face, “ Chemistry, hopefully I pass it this time..” Alec nodded, that was because Jace had taken it in tenth grade and failed it. So of course now senior year he’d have to take it again, to be sure he got the credit he needed to graduate.

“I wish you luck, brother.” He laughed knowing Jace would need it, Chemistry was more an Izzy subject. Which Iz, would only help you with homework if you begged and gave her her favorite ice cream. Which was always changing, get it wrong then, you was out of luck. His little sister was also ruthless, she knew how to take care of herself. But that didn’t stop Alec from being overprotective, that was for sure. “No time like the present.” He muttered to himself as he pushed open Mrs. Garroway’s door. She wasn’t there yet, probably had to stay back until all the other students were out the gym.

When he walked in his eyes fell onto Bane.  _ Of course,  _ Alec whined mentally. It was gonna be an interesting semester that was for sure. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well we hope you enjoyed this chapter! Don’t forget about twitter but no pressure! Feel free to comment here too, and we love getting kudos! We appreciate it all!  
> \- S&K


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HELLO! It’s us again S&K or Katy and Sly or however you wish to refer us as. 
> 
> But we are so happy that all of you are enjoying our story so much! It makes is very happy! 
> 
> Just so you know you can tweet with us about the story! By @ing us at or handles @CassiAnime (sly) @katyc04090227 (Katy) and our hashtag for the story! #TOOLBYSK we’d love to hear what you think but if not the comments work just as well! Our tumblrs you can find on the previous two chapters, I’m a bit lazy today to type those!
> 
> To help everyone 
> 
> Seniors  
> Alec  
> Magnus  
> Jace  
> Raphael  
> Camille  
> Theo (Underhill)  
> Jonathan  
> Sebastian  
> Raj  
> Aline  
> Mark
> 
> Juniors  
> Izzy  
> Clary  
> Simon  
> Jordon  
> Maia  
> Helen
> 
> Sophomores  
> Will  
> Tessa  
> Jem  
> Meliron
> 
> Freshmen  
> Emma  
> Cicely
> 
> Hope that helps a little!  
> Enjoy the story!

Senior year was going off without a hitch, and it was only the first day.  _ Haha yeah right.  _ Was what thought Magnus had thought. First, his Mama told him he was gonna be late—like she did  _ every  _ year. But, Magnus Bane  _ did not  _ run. So, of course it had made him  _ later.  _ Which Magnus knew about the assembly, and it was the same as it was any year before. Even though, Magnus had been late to all of those as well. It was senior year! He was suppose to be thrilled, but he wasn’t. He wasn’t even in a class with Raphael. His  _ only _ actual friend still within the school. They others had been traitors and graduated, last year. God, his missed Ragnor and Cat. 

He’d sat down at the  first table he’d come to after walking into the Art room. It was an elective Magnus needed, so he couldn’t complain. But, who was Mrs. Garroway? What happened to Mrs. Pagaborn? It was sort of confusing, cause Mrs. P hadn’t said anything to him about leaving last year. When he’d talked to her about taking her class. But, of course he’d been late to the assembly and barely managed to get anything out of the nervous freshman he had sat next too. 

Magnus looked around the Art room, to see who else was with him in there. Raphael wasn’t, but at least maybe he’d see a familiar face. While it was true others were just acquaintances, it was still better than complete  _ strangers.  _ A silent groan escaped past his lips when he noticed that he was in a room mainly with jocks and he rolled his eyes. Magnus disliked jocks with a passion; to him all of them were brainless idiots and he narrowed his eyes, crossing his arms on top of his chest. Well, being stuck with a room full of jocks was still better than a room full of freshmen. At least here was some eye-candy to enjoy. Yes, the jocks were stupid, but they were hot… Magnus was going to give them that.

Magnus liked Art, because of the previous teacher, Mrs. P was cool and easy to talk to, so Magnus was quite bummed out to see that she had been replaced by a new teacher. Magnus pressed his lips together and listened to Mrs. Garroway telling a few things about herself, a short introduction, so that her students got an idea how her classes were going to look like. Magnus rolled his eyes when he heard some whining from the back and he could already hear the  _ jocks _ complaining. Ugh, did they have to be there?

Mrs. Garroway noticed the groans from the back of the room and she folded her arms on top of her chest. “Is there… a problem?” she asked and suddenly all of the jocks went quiet. Before, they were quite lively and Magnus was able to hear their complaining about how Art was dumb. Art wasn’t  _ dumb, _ it was a way to express yourself, much like dance. Then again, what did he expect? Did he really think that such morons would be able to get what expressing yourself meant? They were very much like cavemen, no intelligence, no nothing. “Guys,” repeated herself Mrs. Garroway. “There was some whining and complaining at the back of the room before,” she said.

“Oh, it was nothing, Mrs. G,” heard Magnus say someone and he rolled his eyes. “We were just expressing our  _ excitement _ how much we just cannot wait to start with the class,” said the same person and Magnus face-palmed himself.

“Ah, for sure,” said Mrs. Garroway and wasn’t impressed at all when she saw someone silently laughing. “Just because my _ husband  _ is your all’s coach, doesn’t mean this class will be an easy ‘A’  _ for you _ .” Jocelyn looked at the boys who were snickering. Many thought that Art would be an easy grade. That was something that Joselyn knew from the previous school she worked at, many of the jocks found out the hard way. 

Magnus grinned as he continued to listen to Mrs. Garroway. He liked how she made all of the stupid jocks shut up with merely a few sentences and he looked over his shoulders as he was laughing inside. Magnus liked their new Art teacher already and the class didn’t even properly start yet. 

**

Usually Alec would  _ be  _ the one to sit in the back, especially in this type of class. Art was an elective that he’d put off, until this year. Mainly cause Alec wanted an easy year, but it was already starting to seem like it wouldn’t be. He groaned, because he was sitting more in the middle. Alec was still wound up over Bane having been late to assembly. He didn’t even know why Bane was getting on his nerves so much, but Alec’s eyes were on him the entire time that Mrs. Garroway was explaining the details of the class.

It sort of surprised him that they—Magnus Bane and him were in the same class. In the last three years of being in high school. There wasn’t a class that Alec could think that Bane was in with him? Maybe he always just overlooked Bane, but what was different about this year? Was it because it was senior year? Why was the presence of Magnus Bane, irking him? Was it just everything get on Alec’s nerves day? Since it was the first day of school? It wasn’t like Alec had much of a chance to actually relax this summer. Mostly because Alec and Jace’s father—Robert Lightwood former linebacker from a minor league. 

It had always been _ his _ father’s dream to go pro, but he never had quite made it there. Mostly because Robert had tried right out of high school, and something happened. He’d heard the story so many times, it was blanking on him right now. His whole summer had been spent training with Jace. Jace loved it, but Alec would’ve rather done something other than all the training they’d done. 

Alec was snapped back to reality when he heard some of the guys; Jordan, Raj, Sebastian, Will and Victor, complaining and whining about the Art class and his annoyance only got worse as he wanted to smack every single one of them. Sebastian Verlac had gotten on his nerves especially; Sebastian being his rival on the team… he was just a pain in the ass. Other guys were cool, sort of, it was just Sebastian that had gotten on Alec’s never. He couldn’t stomach the blond idiot. There was just something Alec didn’t like, what it was—well that was something else. 

Their rivalry was something else, it started long before High school. They’d always played football together, started in the midget leagues that the elementary schools had. They’d played for opposing teams, and once gotten into a fight on the field—where Alec had broken Verlac’s nose. 

Where in turn Robert and Verlac’s father had gotten into it. If Alec had to say anything about that, it would have to be his proudest and embarrassing moment wrapped into one. Before Alec could speak to defend his teammates, though for how they were acting he shouldn’t. It had been Verlac speaking, as if he was their captain. No, that was him. It made Alec wonder if Sebastian was doing it because they were in the same class.

Trying to spark some of that rivalry that Alec would rather leave for on the field. Not that Alec was sure how much good it do there either, Sebastian wanted to be quarterback. Sadly, Verlac was one of the wide receiver, and Alec praised him on how well he was at it. It was almost taunting him, as Alec had been made quarterback in his sophomore year. It had pissed Verlac off so badly, and to this day it still made Alec chuckle.

“Alec Lightwood?” Alec was so lost in his thoughts that he hadn’t realized what was going on around him. It wasn’t until Theodore Underhill had nudged him from behind him, “ _ Dude. _ ” Was what he heard from him. “Wh—?” Alec came out of his thoughts looking up, where Mrs. Garroway was looking at him. A blush creep onto his checks, “Present ma’dam.” Sinking into his seat, hoping to become nonexistent. Truly this was embarrassing, horribly so. It didn’t help that Sebastian had a smirk playing on his features. Everyone else seemed to be snickering. 

“Magnus Bane?” Was the next name that Mrs. G called. Even while Alec sank into his seat, he watched a graceful hand go up, “Present.” Listening to Magnus say as he heard someone next to him say loud enough, “ _ Freak _ !” Which Alec knew exactly who it been, it was Sebastian. 

**

Magnus rolled his eyes when one of the jocks called him a freak. It was nothing knew, he was a target of their bullying for years now. Just because he wore flashy clothes and make up. Just because he was a bit  _ different _ , that was all why he was a punching bag for the football team and other idiotic bullies. But he didn’t let those words hurt him; he had a thick skin and he only scoffed, because he truly felt sorry for them. Maybe they were just jealous of him; unlike those  _ King Kongs _ at the back of the room,  _ he _ had style and class. Now  _ that _ was something that Magnus knew jocks had never heard of.

Yet still, he turned around to see who was that idiot and he rolled his eyes when he Sebastian Verlac looking his way and he narrowed his eyes when he saw the blond blowing him a kiss, then a wink and the others started laughing like that was the funniest thing they’ve ever seen. Well, their tiny brain probably didn’t hold the capacity for real humour. All of them were laughing like idiots; well almost all of them. 

Two of them didn’t really look too impressed; Alec Lightwood and Theodore Underhill. Magnus didn’t really know them, but he kind of made an assumption that the two of them were like the rest of the team; arrogant, stuck up and stupid. Maybe not. Magnus found himself to be staring at the Lightwood for particularly long and when the other noticed his eyes on him, Magnus’ eyes widened and he quickly turned around, pretending he was paying attention to Mrs. Garroway. However, that didn’t last long and he turned to Lightwood again and he narrowed his eyes when he noticed how uneasy the other look like.

Magnus didn’t really know Lightwood as they moved in different circles; he was a dancer while Lightwood was a jock, but the other  _ always _ looked uneasy. Made Magnus wonder, what was his deal? Magnus sighed and before he was able to turn around, the fact that he had been staring at Alec was caught by other jocks as well and of course they just had to make a  _ comment _ about it. “Yo, Alec, the freak’s staring at you,” said a voice. It was Raj, another idiot and Magnus flinched when Alec looked back at him.

“Fag,” said Sebastian and Magnus groaned, because those words did get to him and he quickly turned to the front of the room again and he slid down in his chair, trying to make himself look invisible.

“Leave him alone,” said Alec, who really wasn’t in the mood to be dealing with their stupid remarks. He could see that the comments hurt Magnus’ feelings and even though he was beyond annoyed with him before, the stupid remarks coming from the guys was what pissed him off even more. People teaming up to attack someone was what Alec hated the most and he groaned when the rest of the guys started talking again, expressing their dislike with Bane, but Alec just rolled his eyes and let it go.

It was Mrs. G who finally made all of them shut the hell up and warned them not to use that kind of a  _ disgusting _ language ever again. She also made a promise that if someone was ever to use that kind of language in her class, they would be sent straight to the principal. She was no stranger to abuse and bullying, so she wasn’t having any of it. Magnus grinned again and then sighed. Yes, he liked this new teacher, so maybe the year wasn’t going to suck completely. 

Cat and Ragnor were no longer there, but at least he had dance and Art, ways to express himself. And Mrs. G seemed like a cool teacher and he tried to cheer himself up with that. With a lot of convincing, Magnus somehow managed to make himself better a little bit and put on a brave expression. Yes, okay, he was going to meet new friends! This was his  _ senior _ year, so Magnus was going to make the best of it and enjoy it. He could still hang out with Ragnor and Cat on the weekends!

_ Okay, you got this, Magnus! _ said Magnus to himself as he was ready to face the day and the rest of the school year. 

“Now, I know we’re weren’t about touch much more on Art, but tomorrow is a new day.” Jocelyn started with knowing that these kids would bolt when the bell rang. “I expect better behavior, and punctuality.” As her eyes drifted behind Magnus towards the jocks, before landing on Magnus. “Now, enjoy the rest of your first day!” She smiled, right before the bell rang. 

**

Silently nodding to Mrs. Garroway, most of her class had been spent in the assembly. She’d been able to talk about her class a little and take role. Which Alec had embarrassed himself when she called his name. Not listening, and lost in his thoughts. Which was again was what he was doing as he exited her classroom after the bell.

Digging into his pocket where Alec had placed his schedule. He needed to know what was next, and once he saw that it was History. He groaned, mostly because he saw who it was with. Roger Branwell—Lydia’s father, his ex-girlfriend. While Alec wanted to try to keep the relationship, Lydia thought because she was going to Stanford. Which was thousands of miles away from where they were better off.

As Alec reached the classroom, not many students were in there, which gave Alec the perfect opportunity to sit at the back of the classroom. He liked the spot at the back the most, because he felt safe there, away from the unwanted attention. The furthest place away from Roger Branwell, the better. He sat down and watched the classroom fill itself with other student; Jace, Victor, Camille, Raphael and other students. Alec’s face brightened when he saw Jace and he signed him to come closer, Jace wearing a horrified expression on his face.

“Alec,” whined Jace and quickly went over to him, Alec arching an eyebrow. 

“I take it Chemistry didn’t go well?” asked Alec.

“There’s no way in hell I’m passing this class. Just kill me now,” said Jace and shook his head. “Chemistry sucks, it’s not like I’ll use any of the things I’ll learn there later on,” said Jace and shook his head.

“Trying telling that to Izzy’s face,” snorted Alec and Jace narrowed his eyes.

“But,” said Jace and then leaned closer to Alec. “I met someone,” he said and waggled his eyebrows. “Clary Fray, the hottest red-head I’ve seen. Like hot damn,” said Jace and Alec made an unamused hum. “She’s gonna be a good distraction when-”

“Or you could just focus on the class instead. There’s that option too,” said Alec and Jace narrowed his eyes and gave him that ‘who-do-you-take-me-for-look’. The two of them continued to talk for a bit longer, until teacher Branwell stepped inside of the classroom and Alec tried to make himself look invisible. History was going to be awkward as hell for him and he could feel Branwell’s eyes on him as he was started talking.

Just as Branwell was in the middle of explaining which history periods they were going to be learning about, the door suddenly opened and Alec looked towards the door, rolling his eyes when he noticed that it was Bane barging into the class. Being late.  _ Again. _ Seriously? Alec arched an eyebrow and Magnus started looking around the class.

**

It was with the bell, and being excused, that Magnus got up swinging his bag over his shoulder. He opened the satchel on the side where he’d placed his schedule. Magnus need to know what class he had next, it was nearly nine o’clock maybe? Maybe it was later? Magnus didn’t know, didn’t actually feel like pulling out his phone to see. Once seeing who was next Magnus groaned, Brandwell, History. Roger Branwell, loved picking out the most boring parts of history. 

“Out of the way,  _ freak!”  _ Was what Magnus heard before he could actually acknowledge it, he was shoved out of the way. It was getting his balance back that Magnus glared at the back of Sebastian. What was this asshole’s deal!? That hadn’t been the first time today that Verlac attack him verbal, but physically too now? Was he subject to it because he was Camille’s ex? If anyone should be angry about any of what happened that,  _ should  _ be him! Camille Belcourt _ had  _ been his girlfriend. Magnus had found her  _ making  _ out with that scumbag. 

The walk to History had been a normal one after the douchebag was out of his site. But, wait he  _ thought _ too soon. Magnus’s eyes feel onto Sebastian and Camille outside of the classroom, that he needed to be in. He couldn’t make himself to walk over, not with those two their. No way, in hell was he going to subject himself to that! “Inside, Ms. Belcourt.” Shooing her inside was Mr. Branwell, and the bell rang singally he’d be late,  but Magnus was still frozen there.. 

_ Crap! _ Was what Magnus thought had he’d finally came to his sense. This would mark himself being late for class. Classes and the school assembly were different things. Magnus did his best not to be late to class, but Camille was in this one..  _ And _ he was still in the process of avoiding the girl. 

After a few deep breathes, Magnus managed to work himself up to going towards the door. 

“I’m sorry,” stammered Magnus. Mr. Branwell told him to take a seat and Magnus scanned the room. There was an empty seat next to Camille, but he wrinkled his nose. Nope, he wasn’t sitting there. Luckily, there was another empty seat at the back, not too far from Alec and he sighed. Well, still better than sitting close to Camille.

**

Feeling even more tensed now that Bane was sitting next to him. It had to be because Bane managed to be later again. Twice in the same day. Why it annoyed him, so much Alec hadn’t actually figured that out still. But, now with Magnus in the back next to him. He figured Roger—no, _ no _ . Mr. Branwell. Would single him out now, especially since Bane had came in late. 

Alec tried to focus on what Branwell was saying, but his eyes kept on wandering off to Magnus, who was now taking notes of whatever Branwell was talking about. Why was he always late? Alec considered asking him that, but it wasn’t exactly his business. As he continued studying Bane’s every move, he didn't even notice that he had been staring at him for about ten minutes straight.

“Lightwood!” suddenly said Branwell and Alec suddenly perked up and narrowed his eyes.  _ What was going on? Why was everyone staring at him?!  _ “I would really appreciate it if you would start paying a bit more attention to the class than to Bane over there,” said Branwell and the whole classroom burst into laughter, Alec flushing up to his ears and he just wanted to disappear when Magnus turned to him as well. 

“I know I’m a lot to look at, but maybe paying attention to Mr. Branwell would be a wiser idea,” said Magnus playfully and Alec just wanted to wipe his smirk off his face. Jace nudged Alec, “What’s with you?” Was what was whispered, but before Alec could say anything. “Since because we won’t be able to cover it now. You’ll need to read the next chapter  _ as _ homework.” Roger’s eyes fell onto Alec again he wanted to sink away into his seat. “Be sure to thank Mr. Lightwood.” That put it over the top for Alec as he sank further into the desk he sat at.

Alec rolled his eyes when he heard the groans of protest from the others in class and he just wanted to  _ disappear.  _ Luckily, the  _ bell _ rang and the second period was over.

_ Thank God! _

Alec quickly collected all of his things and got the hell out from there, blushing again when he saw some of the guys pointing and laughing at him. He walked fast and ignored Jace when he was trying to get his attention.

_ Please let the day be over soon.  _

But that was wishful thinking as he still had, six other classes before it was over. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

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> S&K


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hii! It’s S&K here!
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> We both know how stressful the last few days have been! We’ve all been running low on sleep tweeting as much as we can. But we’ve managed to finish this chapter. We hope that you all love it as much as we do.
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Magnus quickly collected all of his things into his bag when the doorbell finally rang, marking the end of the 4th period, and he headed straight for the school cafeteria. He was so sick of that day, it was the absolute worst. He just wanted to go home, lock himself in his room and just stay there. Forever. In the last period she got on his nerves to no end. He just wanted some peace and quiet, but no. She kept on and nagging and nagging him, sitting next to him on purpose and Magnus just _snapped_ , because there was just so much he could take.

Magnus had his tray with food and was looking for an empty spot at any table. Then again, it was better sitting alone than with other people. Much to his luck, no many students were in the cafeteria at the time, so he easily found an empty table, sitting down and just wanting to get the hell out of there as soon as possible. Magnus hated eating alone, but what else was there for him to do? Maybe Rahael was going to join him later on? He could only hope, because he would really need someone to talk to. Especially what happened with Camille.

So, there he was, peacefully eating his lunch, when he heard someone stepping behind him and Magnus felt shivers running up his spine. If there was something he hated was someone breathing down his breath and evading his personal space! He said something under his breath and he then turned around, not really caring who was the idiot bothering him. “What?” snapped Magnus and narrowed his eyes when he saw the school bully and idiot, Sebastian Verlac. Oh, this was going to be good, he thought and just held back another whine from getting out.

Oh, the situation was just about to get better, because Camille decided that it was a good idea to join them at the table as well and he arched an eyebrow. “Camille told me what you said to her before, at Geography!” said Sebastian and Magnus crossed his arms on top of his chest. What? Seriously? She went to Sebastian and told him what? That he told her to shut the fuck up and leave him the fuck alone?! Ugh, now he didn’t know why he was with Camille at the first place. Was it her appearance? Sure, she was pretty hot, but her personality wanted to make Magnus throw up and punch his old self for ever getting involved with her in the first place. And Cat and Ragnor warned him about her! Yet, he didn’t listen. And then it came back to bite him in the ass.

“And what did she tell you?” asked Magnus, because he knew that Camille had quite the skill to lie. “I literally told her to leave me the fuck alone because she was being a whiny and annoying bitch,” said Magnus. Probably he shouldn’t have called Camille a bitch in front of Sebastian but he was so fucking _done_ for that day.

“See, Sebby!” said Camille and placed a hand on top of her mouth.  Magnus groaned and rolled his eyes at the nick name. Oh right, she called him _Maggy._ Why didn't break up with her sooner? “He was so mean. I just asked if I could borrow a pen.” _Right, just a pen she wanted._ Magnus had to fight himself from physically rolling his eyes, because this was going nowhere fast as it was. “A pen, _ha_ , pretty sure it was for _something_ else.” His eyes narrowed, it wasn’t a ‘ _pen_ ’ she wanted. Magnus knew different, because she’d asked—it made he shudder that he’d even done it before. Camille was nothing more than a slut. Last year in Geography, when they’d still been together, he’d fingered her in class, because why not. They sat beside one another, much like he’d been forced to endure this earlier with her.

Why was he even bothering with these idiots? The day has been horrible, he was ready to get out of here, but no it was only the start of lunch and here he was _dealing_ with his ex and _one_ of her newest toys. _Gods_ knew how many others she had. From what Cat and Ragnor had told him, she’d been trying to get with almost all of last years seniors that had been on the football team. “Because I’m _sure,_ Camille forgot to mention how many times I asked her nicely, before I told her what she told you.” Again why was he dealing with these two? “Oh _look_ there’s some _decent_ company, I was looking for.” Magnus picked up his tray and brushed past Verlac as he waltzed over to where Raphael was.

“Ugh..” Magnus made a noise as he sat his tray down hard. Trying to get Raphael’s attention, maybe he was being dramatic, at this point Magnus didn’t care. The idea of eating was unappealing, frankly he was too agitated to eat. Raphael still hadn’t acknowledge him, but then again _this_ was Raphael. “She has _some_ nerve to think I’d do _that_ .” Magnus was stabbing at his food with his fork, he was pretending it was Camille’s face. “Then goes and complains to _Verlac._ Their relationship, it’s a _joke.”_ Magnus was looking at Raphael, “Are _you_ gonna say _anything?!_ ” He was far to annoyed with Camille, he was taking it out on other people.

“I was suppose to care?” Raphael looked at him pretty stoically, almost laughing a little with his eyes. “It’s _Camille_ ,” said Raphael, like it was the most obvious thing. “It wasn’t like _I_ haven’t warned you before. Remember last year, after the finals? She tried hooking up with _me_ , _dios_ and you wouldn’t fucking listen,” said Raphael and let out a sigh. “Cat and Ragnor gave you heads up as well, but you never learn, do you?” asked Raphael, Magnus lowering his gaze and he sighed, because he knew that Raphael was right. But, couldn’t he have at least more compassion?!

“But-”

“Nope, don’t wanna hear it. I want to eat in peace. If you continue to whine, go nag someone else, not me,” said Raphael simply and in the end Magnus decided to shut up, but he kept glaring at Verlac and Camille, who were now making out at the corner of the cafeteria. Magnus looked down at the tray of food and pushed it away. Well, there went his appetite.

**

Alec made his way to the school’s cafeteria with Isabelle and Jace, happy that it was finally a break from the classes. It was like he was officially cursed that day. After the two first periods, he was called out to pay more attention in other classes as well and Alec was just _done_ , especially after the History class. The _humiliation_ that was going to bring later with Verlac and other idiots on the team. When he came to the cafeteria, his eyes went immediately to Bane, who wasn’t alone, but accompanied by Sebastian and Camille. From what he could see, the situation was anything but innocent, but he decided to stay out of it. If he got into the middle of their argument, the teasing from his teammates would be even more horrible. Plus he didn’t want to stick his nose into the places it didn’t belong.

“Ugh, I’m starving,” whined Jace and then quickly got all serious when a redhead walked past them. Jace nudged Alec and then pulled him to the side. “See, that’s Clary Fray, the hot redhead from Chemistry. What do you think, huh? Not bad, right?” asked Jace and Alec looked at him, weirded out that Jace was so into a chick, but he then glanced at the Clary girl and he shrugged. Sure, she looked… _fine_. Normal. She was a girl, a person. Alec didn’t get why Jace was getting all hot and bothered.

“She looks… nice,” said Alec and shrugged.

“ _Nice?!_ ” asked Jace. “She’s hot as-”

“Stop it, Jace, you’re practically drooling. It’s off-putting,” said Isabelle and rolled her eyes. “Don’t spoil my appetite before we actually get ot the food,” she then added and Alec snorted. Isabelle was funny, he had to hand that to her.

“Right, and clearly _Simon,_ doesn’t moon over you?” Jace looked at her unimpressed. “No, he doesn’t! We’re just really _good_ friends.” She rolled her eyes, but both Alec and Jace shared a look. Was their sister this clueless and blind, and she couldn’t see how in love Simon was with her? Those two had been best friends since middle school. “Hey! Sim-” Alec elbowed Jace in the side, “Not _our_ place.” He whispered at him shaking his head.

“Hey guys!” Simon had heard Jace call at him, “How’s you first day back going as seniors?” Simon asked and looked and Isabelle. “Let’s just not get into that..” Alec said looking away from Simon, because that was a can of worms. It had been horrible so far, he still had four other periods to get through before practice. “Amazing! I met this hottie!” Jace said as he was munching on his food, which Izzy groaned and rolled her eyes.

“Jace, no one’s _interested_ ,” said Isabelle, but because Jace wouldn’t shut up, Izzy decided to give her full attention to Alec. It looked like he needed it, because Alec had been spacing out and Izzy was concerned. Especially after she heard what happened at the History class. “Alec, you okay?”

“Hm? What? Oh, um, yeah, I’m fine… never better,” said Alec, who went back to staring at Bane across the cafeteria. “Wait, what did you say?”

“You seem out of it,” said Izzy and narrowed her eyes.

“Well, not gonna lie… it’s been a day,” said Alec, ran his fingers through his hair and sighed.

“I’ve heard what happened with Mr. Branwell,” said Izzy and Alec looked at her. “News travel find around here,” she then said and Alec groaned and, “Can we _just_ …” Alec just didn’t want to discuss this.. “Not…” As he shoved his burger into his mouth. Trying to be interesting in something other than where this conversation could go.

“Let’s go back to talking about Jace’s eye candy.” Even though Alec didn’t actually want too, he just wanted the _attention_ to be off him. “Yeah, but no one wants to puke.” Izzy was looking at him like ‘come on talk’. Why couldn’t Izzy just drop it, it wasn’t like Alec meant to stare at Magnus Bane. “You're staring at him again!” pointed out Izzy. “Did he do something or-”

“No. Now drop it and let me be,” said Alec and Izzy rolled her eyes but let it slide for the time being and the rest of lunch passed by in silence.

**

Today had been such a horrible day, for Alec. First it had been that new linebacker Jonathan, hitting on his sister _to_ him. Then having to sit through the _last_ boring assembly he’d have to attend as a student of Alicante High. Today should’ve been a great day, but it hadn’t been in the slightest bit. Second he’d zoned out during art, when his Coach’s wife had been taking role. Then second period had been the worst out of the whole day. His ex’s father was his teacher, had called him out on his attention being elsewhere..

His attention had been watching Magnus Bane, who had to speak.. Making everyone laugh at him, because he’d been staring at Bane. Which resulted Alec getting everyone homework in history, and Branwell always picked the most boring parts of history. It was like he was torturing his students for a reason.

His math teacher thought it would be great to give a pop quiz, to see what all they remembered from last year. Well, math wasn’t exactly Alec’s strong subject, but he did his best.. Sad thing was Ms. Whitewillow, thought because he was a Lightwood and she knew his mother. That it would be great to tell the class how bad he did on the quiz, and how his mother would be disappointed. That was the icing on the cake for Alec of the day.

He was in the locker rooms down on the football field, “Ugh, do you understand this gibberish?” Jace asked, as he was looking over the notes that Clary had gave him before practice was about to start. That was always when they’d found out that Clary Fray was their coach’s step daughter. “Uh, barely.. You’ll have to ask Izzy.” But then again Alec knew Jace wouldn’t do that. He was to proud into pay or to pay attention to watch Iz’s favorite ice cream was, which was always changing.

“Duddde, you know what she’s like.” Jace was whining, which wasn’t anything that wasn’t normal. “Yes, I know what she’s like, if you pay attention, you know the way to get her to help you.” It was simple, pay attention to Iz or the easiest bet, would be to ask Simon. Which Alec had done a few times last year, or he just asked Simon to help him. Thankful practice today wasn’t going to be in full pads, but that was only because it was mostly no tackling. They still had to go over the plays they had messed up, and Coach had told them he had an announcement at the end of yesterday’s practice.

“Lightwood! How's your sis doing? C’mon, give me her number and I'll show her what _fun_ really looks like,” Jonathan called as he walked out onto the field giving a wolf whistle. “Fine, because she’s nowhere near you!” Was what Alec grumbled, now annoyed. Jonathan was almost as bad as Sebastian, and wait—those two were being all chummy. That was because after Alec hadn’t answered, Sebastian came up behind Jonathan with Camille.

“Sprints!” Coach Garroway, called and some of the guys groaned. After the scrimmage game they had last weekend, and it had been horrible. Alec still hadn’t heard the end of that from his father. Robert Lightwood, keep going on how Alec was suppose to lead his team.

It was as Alec was running up and down the center of the field did, Jonathan start again. “Come on, Lightwood. Your sister and I would look good together.” Who was doing his sprints next to him. “Look I’m not giving you her number.” Trying to stay calm, when it came to Izzy he could lose it pretty fast. Especially when it came to people hitting on her, and why they hit on her to him.. It was mind blowing.

“Why not?” _Why not?!_ Alec could list a billion reasons as to why not. “Because I don’t _like_ you.” It was that simple, and Alec didn’t care. He went back to focusing on his sprints because he figured next would be hitting. It was usually how practices went.

On top of of the running in pads it was eighty degree weather. Hitting and shoving the pad was a stress reliever for Alec, mainly because he used it to picture those he was mad at. Which normally was his father in the last few months. What Robert didn’t know was Alec knew of his affair, he hadn’t confronted his father. But, Alec knew. “Gather around!” Garroway called, it was getting to the end of practice anyways. Which hopefully meant to Alec that Coach Garroway, would tell them what this announcement was.

Alec was standing next to Jace, eyeing Jonathan and Sebastian, but then tried to focus on whatever the Coach was going to say. At least for once he could be _focused_ that day. No matter how much Alec had tried today at school, focusing. It hadn’t worked, why? It was his senior year, the last year he’d be _here._ A pang of sadness had hit him, realizing _that_. But, still he had at least three months of football left. That was something right, as long as the team got their act together.

“So, Coach what’s this about?” was what Jace asked.

“Guys, great work today,” said Luke, trying to keep his team motivated. “But, we still have a long way to go before we’ll be in top form,” he went on by saying and then made a short pause. “I noticed that some of you are incredibly _stiff._ ” Coach Garroway’s eyes fell on him, Alec had gulped as they moved over some of the others? “So I may have a solution how to get you all to be more… _relaxed,_ ” said Luke. “It might sound stupid to some of you, but hear me out. I think that if the entire team would take a _ballet_ class would help to bring the team spirit together and would-” started explaining Luke, but was then interrupted by Jonathan who snorted.

“Coah, you serious?” asked Jonathan. Alec was actively listening, if it would help the team. Alec would try it, even if it seemed a bit odd. Anything really to keep his nagging father of his back, who’d been on him all summer, but had praised Jace. “Quite serious, _son._ ” It wasn’t a term of endearment for Jonathan.

“If the Coach thinks it would be a good idea,” started Alec. “Then we should-”

“Nuh huh,” said Sebastian.

“I won’t be dancing like some kind of a _fairy_ ,” snapped Raj.

Alec just groaned, “Who said anything about us being fairies?” Knowing just how much of that was being stereotyped. “Look, the Coach thinks that-”

“Fuck no,” said Raj and narrowed his eyes, 

“Guys, don’t be mean,” said Theo, who had enough of complaining. It was just a _proposition._

“Oh, but I suppose Lightwood has a _thing_ for fairies, huh?” asked Raj, meaning at the incident with Magnus at History class and Alec rolled his eyes. They weren’t to let him forget, huh?

“Shut up, Raj!” said Alec, who had it enough, feeling his blood boil and when Jonathan started laughing was when Alec just _snapped_ , because he was sick of it. The constant complaining, the whining and the _idiot_ hitting on Izzy. Alec firmed fist with his hand and just as he was about to swing it at Jonathan, Jace and Theodore stopped him, Jace wrapping an arm around Alec’s shoulder and Theo tapped his back.

“Don’t let him get to you,” said Jace. 

“He’s just an ass,” said Theo and Alec calmed after that, at least on the surface. Inside, he was still boiling with anger.

Luke spent a few more moments, trying to explain how dance would be beneficial to the team, but no one except for Alec listened to him, Alec’s mind soon wandering off to somewhere else and he sighed as the practice was finally over. Incorporating _ballet_ to football sounded dumb to him too, but… he was ready to try it. As long as it would improve him, he was game. He didn’t care what the other guys thought.

**

For the first time that day, Magnus feeling actually in good spirits, because _finally_ the classes had been over the the favourite part of this day had come; dance practice. Oh, God, how much he loved the dance, especially ballet. It just allowed him to _breathe_ and vent out his frustrations, which he was going to need after _today_. It had been quite the day, paired up with the incident with Verlac and Camille, he just wanted to dance his heart out. His mood also brightened when he saw Madame Loss, Catarina’s mother and the dance teacher. Because Magnus was a talented dancer himself, the best that the school had and a lot of the times Magnus would help her with training the others since there were quite a lot of students and usually Freshmen needed some help. At least at the start with picking up some of the dance moves.

 Magnus greeted the teacher, Madame Loss giving him a little wink and Magnus made his way to the back of the room, so that he could stretch in peace before they would start actually working on some of the dance moves and routines. He sat down and started working on his feet, flexing his toes as he slowly worked up to his whole legs, leaning forwards, holding onto his feet, legs straight and he exhaled deeply, doing the same thing a few more times, until he parted his legs far apart, doing the splits and he then started leaning against one leg to the other, stretching himself slowly. But even though he was doing that, he was completely lost in his thoughts and wasn’t really present in the room, the teacher quickly noticing that and as she ordered the rest of the class to stretch first, she went over to Magnus, because she was worried about him. At the end of the day, Madame Loss was almost like a second mother to Magnus, so it was natural for her to worry about the teen.  

“Magnus,” said the woman and Magnus flinched, looking up at Madame Loss when he was spoken to and he gave her a mleek smile as he went on by stretching his legs. “How are you? It’s the first day of the school and you’re a _senior_ now,” she said, trying to get Magnus to talk. She knew how difficult it was for Magnus to open up to people, it took her _two_ years to finally gain his trust and without his two best friends around, it was only natural for her to worry, because Magnus seemed kind of distant.

 “I’m fine,” said Magnus and then slowly got up onto his legs and slowly leaned down, touching his toes and he stood in that position as well, then slowly got up and looked at Madame Loss, shrugging. “It’s just… the first day of the school, you know?” he whined and looked around the class, then back to her. “Senior year is going to suck without Cat and Ragnor,” he then said and rolled his eyes. “There they are, _together_ , off at college and I’m here… all alone. The only friend I have is Raphael and he doesn’t give a flying fuck about me,” he then said and Madame Loss gave him a compassionate look. “How’s Catarina by the way?” he then asked, because he hadn’t really talked to her. Or Ragnor.

“She’s doing fine, missing you terribly though,” said Madame Loss and Magnus let out a small whine. He just wanted to go over to New York, wanting to be with his best friends and the woman placed a hand on top of his shoulder. “Come on, you’re _Magnus Bane_ , you’ll do just fine, find new friends,” said the woman and gave Magnus a little wink. “And with dance you can vent out your frustrations. Or some to me to talk if you really need someone. Or just when you’re bored and have nothing better to do, come bother me,” said Madame Loss and Magnus chuckled a bit, nodding, feeling a bit better after Madame Loss’ pep-talk. “You’re always welcome,” she then made sure to say and Magnus gave her a little nod again.

“Yeah, I know,” said Magnus and pressed his lips together. “Thank you.” 

“Great,” said the woman and then rubbed her palms together. “Now, we have a class to run. Care to give me a hand?” she asked and Magnus quickly nodded, prepared to help out his favourite teacher.

“What should I do?” asked Magnus.

“Line up all the Freshmen and check for the best ones out of there,” said Madame Loss. “Help the ones who struggle and then report back to me?” asked the woman and Magnus nodded. “You think you can handle that? Ready?” 

“I was born ready,” said Magnus. Honestly, training a bunch of Freshmen sounded like a pain in the ass, but if it was what Madame Loss wanted, then Magnus was doing it. He liked helping her. Besides, he looked forward to finding some hidden talent among the new arrivals on the dance class and he slowly went to the group of Freshmen, that stuck close to each other and he took in a deep breath in, reminding himself not to get too annoyed. “Hello, I’m Magnus and I help Madame Loss with the dance classes,” said Magnus and some of the Freshmen greeted him back.

“Now, follow me,” said Magnus and took everyone to the pole and took in a deep breath. “Line up and show me what you’re made of. I hope there’s some quite talented dancers among you,” he then said and folded his arms on top of his chest. “Let’s start with first position,” said Magnus and smiled when he saw all of the Freshmen listening to him and stepping into the _first position_ , legs together, feet apart. “Good, now arms,” he said and watched every single one of them. “Watch your position of fingers too. You have to control every single part of your body, fingers are just as important. They’re an extent of your arm, so keep them elegant,” he said and saw one of the girls flinching and he grinned.

“Good,” said Magnus. “Now, _plié,_ ” said Magnus and watched the others bending their knees, their hips, legs and feet turned outwards. “And another one,” said Magnus, keeping his eyes peeled on the others. “ _Grand plié,_ ” said and nodded. “Now, up on, _relevé,_ ” said Magnus and kept nodding.

He kept leading the Freshmen for a little while and then when they were complete, he sent them over to Madame Loss, reporting to her which ones were better than the others and the teacher noted to herself on which students she’d have to try a bit harder than the others. The next thing that Madame Loss was wanting to work on _pirouettes,_ Magnus liking those the best. However, because Magnus was getting bored of watching others practice with Madame Loss, he decided that it was okay for him to dance on his own a bit, freestyle, pairing up his two styles together - ballet and modern.

Magnus didn’t even need music to dance, he could hear it in his heart, closing his eyes as he danced around and a bright smile was on his face. Yes, finally he felt happy and calm. He allowed the dance to overcome him, he _breathed_ dance and kept grinning when he saw that the others were staring at him, jaws dropping.

They could stare all they wanted, he knew how good he was and winked to Madame Loss, who gave him a little smile and Magnus sighed. Maybe his senior year wasn’t going to suck as much as he first thought.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, well yes you guessed right it’s us again! Wooot S&K 
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> Enjoy the chapter!

The walk back to the house as they didn’t live quite that far from the school. After the day that Alec had, he had hoped that their mom would’ve let him drive. He didn’t exactly have the energy to ignore Jace who was again talking about Clary Fray. Which it had jumped between her and what the coach had announced at the end of practice.

With everything that happened in the last ten hours. His bickering with Jace over paying attention to the assembly, but had to agree it was the same stuff every year. It got boring, but Jace should’ve at least paid more attention. Then Magnus Bane had made his normal entrance he had made nearly every year. Which this year it annoyed him more, as even Magnus was a senior like Jace. _You lead by example!_ Jace should at least know that as it was something Maryse—their mother drilled into at least Alec.

Then, once they’d been in art—he lost himself in his thoughts. Which lead to himself embarrassing himself in front of the coach’s wife. Then add in history, with Lydia’s father.. That cost him getting everyone homework, all because he found himself staring at Bane. Why was that? “Earth to Alec!?” Jace was walking in front of him, trying to get his attention. There Alec went again for what felt like the fiftieth time _that_ day. Getting lost in his thoughts, Izzy often told him he overthought everything.

“You do realize you walked past the house?” Jace said pointing behind him. Which Alec looked back towards Jace’s pointing and he was right, they had. Well, Jace had to to get him to notice.

“Sorry.” Alec grumbled as he turned on his heel. His mind wasn’t in today. Alec was done, but no he couldn’t as much as he wanted. Alec had to read a chapter of his history book, and so his math homework.

“What’s with you dude?” Jace asked, Alec’s eyes fell onto him, and only shrugged. A nonverbal answer was the only thing Alec actually felt like giving.

Twisting the knob to front door, it was Monday? And the first day of school, it meant that Izzy and Simon were inside either already finished with _their_ homework, if the two had any. It meant they were in the living room watching their weird anime shows. Alec could hear the chatter, and also heard the pat of feet rubbing into where he was to meet him. “Alec!” Max, his little brother looked up to him—Jace too, but Alec was Max’s favorite. “Hey bub! How was your day at school?” Izzy and Simon had been the two to pick him up. The only reason Alec or Jace couldn’t was because they had practice.

“It was great! How was practice?” Maxie asked, curious.

“It was tiresome!” Alec laughed as he put his bag down, and picked up Max. “Enough about me, tell me more about your day,” said Alec as he carried Max around, who was enjoying himself high up in the air, in his brother’s arms and he shrugged. “Made any new friends?”

“Yes,” said Max, excited. “I made two new friends,” he then said proudly and Alec grinned, then placed Max down onto the floor and ruffled his hair, happy to hear that at least someone had a good day at school. Unlike Alec, Max was pretty out-going child. Then again, so was Alec. Until he started closing off to people as he went into his teen years.

“Here Max.” Iz said handing him the remote, she wanted to talk to her brother. “Go watch something with Simon.” She smiled sweetly at her younger brother.

“Okay!” Max said with a grin as he moved towards the other side of the living room. It was rather huge, as the Lightwood hosted a lot of parties.

“Well, spill Alec I wanna know what happened in History, you wouldn’t tell me at lunch so, speak!” Iz said flopping down next to her big brother completely ignoring the fact Jace was there.

“I’d like to know that too.” Jace asked.

Alec just groaned, everyone was making this out to be more than what it was.

“Nothing happened, I just spaced out.” Truly that was all of what happened. “So, there’s nothing you wanna talk about?” She rose her eyebrow at him.

“No, there’s nothing. But you let me know if that jackass Morgenstern bothers you.” Alec said putting his serious face one. As Alec could seriously break the neck of that dude.

“Thank you, big brother, but worry not, I can handle that prick all on my own,” said Izzy and gave her brother a little wink and then shrugged. “Now, you sure you don’t wanna talk about the incident at History?”

“Positive,” replied Alec, grabbed his backpack and went to his room, just in case if Isabelle was about to ask him any more annoying questions. He really wasn’t in the mood and he was tired as hell after the long day, which was still long from being done. He still had his homework to finish and he groaned when he finally made his way to his room, closed the door and then threw himself onto the bed, burying his face into the pillow, which muffled his loud groans and whines.

Alec spent the next hour in his room, working on his History homework, wanting to be done with it as soon as possible. Listening to music helped, somehow, and before he knew it, Maryse was already calling that the dinner was prepared, so he closed his text book and slowly dragged his tired body downstairs, into the kitchen, where the whole family was already waiting around the table, Max whining about not wanting to do his homework and Isabelle was helping Maryse with setting the table while Jace and Robert were talking about training. _Again._ Alec rolled his eyes; it was like football was all that his father cared for.

Alec was quiet throughout the entire dinner, which annoyed Robert to no ends as he was asking all sorts of questions about he new Coach, Jace at one point telling about what Coach Garroway suggested; about the ballet class which left Robert _furious._ He already despised the new Coach, spitting all over his methods and Alec just kept on rolling his eyes when his father wouldn’t look at him. He guessed that Luke Garroway knew much more than his father. Garroway was a _professional._ While his father was a bitter, bitter man that never made it, so he settled for being a lawyer instead. Robert forbade both Jace and Alec from signing up to the dance classes, but Alec didn’t give a fly fuck about that. He was doing it, even if it was a weird method, maybe it would improve his game. Plus, he was doing it _because_ Robert minded it so much.

With the dinner over, Alec just wanted to go to his room and spend the rest of the day there, but of course that wasn’t happening, Robert suggesting that they needed to practice some more since their new Coach was pretty much incompetent, as Robert said. Plus, Robert said it would help them _bond_ , Alec hating that more than anything. Bonding with his father, how fun. Alec couldn’t really stomach Robert for one single reason; he was cheating on Maryse. Well, that and being a massive dickhead in general. Alec never said anything to his mother about dad’s affair because he didn’t want to break his mother’s heart. But, that just put more pressure onto the teen and sometimes he just wished to spill all of Robert’s secrets. Or threaten him, maybe then he’d get off his back.

“Alec, you should consider yourself lucky that you have me, so that I can make sure you’ll be the best one on the team,” said Robert as the two of them were getting ready to train and Alec narrowed his eyes and pressed his lips together.

“Oh, yes, I am _so_ lucky that you’re my personal trainer, _dad_ ,” said Alec and turned to Robert. “I mean I feel so honoured to have a celebrity like you training me,” he then went on by saying, sarcasm in his voice heavy and that pissed Robert off.

Robert said nothing, but the expression on his face told Alec that his father wasn’t amused. At all. Well, it wasn’t like Alec cared, anyway. Since his parents were quite wealthy, they had a gym at home, so Alec made his way there, Jace already in there, lifting weights and he waved to both of them when they entered the room. “See, Jace is already training,” said Robert and Alec pressed his lips together. Again, compared to Jace. Alec loved his brother, of course, but this constant comparison was slowly getting on his nerves. “You should be more like _Jace_ ,” said Robert. “Always working hard, not like your half-assed attitude towards this sport. Do you realise the potential you have? And you’re just throwing it _all_ away.”

“I’m working _hard,_ ” hissed Alec, gritting his teeth as he went over to Jace, quickly warmed up and took a weight into his hands and started during a curl working his arms and rolling his eyes as he and Jace exchanged looks. “See?” snapped Alec, because he could sense that Robert was still not amused and he slowly turned around to face his dad. What was wrong now?

“What’s with that attitude, son?”

“Absolutely fucking _nothing_ ,” said Alec, who was slowly losing his self-control. “Now, _Coach,_ ” said Alec and almost threw the weights onto the floor and turned to face his father. “What should I do? You know, so that I can the _best_ , like _you_ ,” said Alec who was beyond peeved that nothing he did was ever good enough. “You know what, I’m going for a run. Is that okay with you, _sir?_ ” He hadn’t wanted to work out to begin with. The stress of the day, and practice had wore him out. Maybe the run, wouldn’t be good idea. But, Alec didn’t care he was far to annoyed to care. He just wanted some space. Robert starting yapping something again, but Alec only rolled his eyes and went _out_ for a run, to clear his thoughts, putting the music on full volume as he started running.

Running paired up with the loud music did the trick and Alec only returned back home when he was completely worn out and dragged himself off to his room, before his father was able to bother him again. And, _crap,_ he still had his Math homework to do, maybe if he asked Simon for help before school. Yes, he decided to do that, because he felt too tired to think, let alone do the thing. He just groaned and threw himself onto the bed, groaning. _When was this going to end?!_

_**_

**One week later**

“We’ll start this class with something simple, but very important as well,” said Mrs. Garroway, and Magnus perked up, listening to the teacher carefully. “Think about the things that inspire you,” said Mrs. G. “You can paint whatever you want, let your mind wander free, only the sky’s your limit today,” she said and Magnus started thinking. What inspired him? Dance inspired him, but how could he convey _dance_ onto the canvass. Maybe paint how dancing made him feel like? How dance brought colour to his once dull life. “It can be _anything,_ ” she then added.

Magnus felt confident about what he was going to draw and he was in quite a good mood too. That was until he heard sighing from somewhere behind and he rolled his eyes. The jocks acting up again? He pressed his lips again and narrowed his eyes. Well, let them hate all they wanted, he wasn’t going to let them spoil his good mood.

A loud sound had came from behind him, it was the _annoying_ jocks again. It was Verlac, laughing who’d knocked into Rick? Magnus didn’t know his name, he thought it was Rick or Rack or something. Then, “Dude, what the hell!?” Raj shoved Sebastian. “BOYS!” Mrs. Garroway stood from her desk. Her arms were across her chest, shaking her head disapproving.

“Guys, cut it out.” It was Lightwood, Alec? Or was it something else. Magnus had never actually paid attention. They’d been in school together all this time and not once had they actually spoken. “Your disrupting everyone.” Again, it was Lightwood talking. Magnus eyes laid on the boy a few times, but never actually looked. Magnus shook his head, trying to get himself to focus again.. Especially after being interrupted as the whole class had been by those idiots. It had been a week since the first day of school, and on the second day someone had started a rumor about himself and the Lightwood boy—thankful it wasn’t the blond one. Trace? Or was it Jace?

Magnus didn’t know and didn’t all that much care, but he’d thought about Shavoone Loss, had said about making new friends. Making friends in high school wasn’t easy and Raphael, well it was Raphael. It hadn’t been until the weekend that Magnus had never heard from Cat and Ragnor. They’d talked about their classes and listened to him whine about the first week of school. Mostly it had been about Camille, and they talked about the parties they’d be going to. It had made Magnus feel _more_ lonely, knowing that they were having fun while he sat at home.

It wasn’t actually like anything had happened over the first weekend, no crazy parties or first of the year dance thing. No that’s, not how things ever went at Alicante High. His mind had wandered away from his painting, and thought of homecoming last year. Oh Ragnor and Cat making out in the back of Ragnor’s van only after they’d all drank themselves silly in the back of it during the football game. It was still sickening how cute his drunken friends were, that night. The only reason he remembered was, well a photo he’d taken of them all. But it was only a drunken kiss, nothing more than that. Magnus didn't even know if Ragnor and Cat remembered their little drunken stunt.

“Mr. Bane?” Magnus eyes had met with Mrs Garroway, a blush creep onto his cheeks. It was oblivious to how she was standing, that she was a little more than peeved with him. “Sorry? What?” Blinking a few times trying to bring his head back into focus. “I asked, what you are painting.” _Wait_. What was he painting? His eyes laid on the painting and looked around at some of the others. His just looked like someone plastered paint on it. Behind him, Magnus could hear the snickering of certain jocks. Magnus rolled his eyes when he heard the jocks laughing behind him and then looked at the teacher.

“Ah,” said Magnus when he finally stopped day dreaming and took in a deep breath. “Dance,” he blurted out and narrowed his eyes as he heard that the jocks started laughing again, but Mrs. G just patiently waited for him to explain his painting. It was true that it was just a bunch of colours mixed together in a swirl, but it was how dancing made him feel. “The thing that inspires me the most is dance,” he explained as a little smile spread across his face. “It makes me feel… see colours,” he then said and the teacher looked pleased with his answer.

“Very good,” said Jocelyn and Magnus wore a proud smile on his face. She, however, didn't look too impressed by the morons at the back who kept on laughing and making fun of his painting. As if they could do better than him!

As the teacher tried to manage to make the idiots shut up, Magnus looked over his shoulder and noticed that the Lightwood boy had been staring at him again and Magnus cocked his head to the side. So far, he was never actually mean to him, unlike the other idiots, so Magnus decided to send him a polite smile across the room, making the Lightwood look down and he chuckled. Though, he never actually talked to him… it made him wonder. What was he working on? What did inspire a jock like him? Probably something boring, as all jocks were boring. Still, it made him curious and the fact that he had been staring at Alec for longer than he should be didn't go unnoticed from the others in the back.

“The rumors are true after all,” said Raj and started snickering, but then made a disgusted face. “You and Lightwood are a thing after all. Sick, man,” he added and Magnus rolled his eyes again. Ugh, jocks were fucking stupid. Why did they care anyway? Plus the rumors didn't bother Magnus, let them think what they wanted. However, they did seem to bother someone else.

“We aren't a thing,” snapped Lightwood and Magnus quickly turned around. “Stop staring at me, you _freak,”_ said Alec and Magnus gave him an unamused look and regretted being nice to him before.

Who was he kidding? All jocks were jerks!

**

Alec was heading down to the dance practice. It’s been a week later since Coach Garroway suggested taking the ballet classes and he finally plucked enough courage to actually get going there. He made sure to tell the Coach where he was going to be, and Luke was genuinely surprised when he saw that at least _someone_ was taking him seriously back then. So, there he was, painfully slowly making his way to where the dance practice were being held at and he felt nervous as hell. Why? He didn’t know. Plus, he was embarrassed! He knew _nothing_ about dance, _nothing!_ And he knew he was bound to make an ass out of himself. But in the end it was going to be worth it… right? God, he hoped so.

Alec needed something to spark his will again, because his father had all but sucked it out. If Coach Garroway thought that _this,_ would help approve his game. Who was he to say, that it wouldn’t? Alec wasn’t his father. Taking a deep breath, it was now or never. With a blink of his eyes Alec stepped into the studio, and all eyes were on him. A flush rushed to his cheeks, his bag loosely hanging on his shoulder. The dance instructor looked at his way and raised her eyebrows.

“Can I help you somehow, young man?” asked Shavoone Loss and Alec let out a nervous laughter.

Magnus looked up when the door opened and his jaw dropped when he saw Lightwood stepping inside. He had already pissed him enough before, so seeing the jock stepping into the dance studio pissed Magnus to no ends. Why the hell was that moron doing there? He had already ruined his day before, so now _this?_ These jocks were freaking everywhere, they just wouldn’t leave them, would they?! He whined and then just hoped the other would disappear, maybe he just stepped inside of the studio by mistake?! He prayed to angels, but his jaw dropped for the second time when Alec spoke up.

“This, um, this is the dance practice, yeah?” asked Alec and Shavoone slowly nodded. “I, um,” started Alec and took in a deep breath, trying to ignore the people staring at him. “Can I join? The Coach said that… well, it was _his_ idea for us to sign up and… um… I don’t really have any… experience, but I thought I’d try it out,” he started stuttering and he then looked at Madame Loss, who was just nodding and then she shrugged. Magnus, on the other hand, just narrowed his eyes and whined silently. _Why, oh, why._

“New dancers are always welcome in my studio,” she said, clearly noticing the student’s distress. “Make yourself feel like home here,” she then said and Alec gave her a polite grin and then slowly made his way to the back of the studio, not really knowing what to do with himself. “Uh, thank you.” Alec sheepishly looked at Bane who’d been standing next to Madam Loss. Other than what he’d overheard Magnus say today to Mrs Garroway, he wouldn’t have known that Bane liked to dance.

Alec moved away from them, he cast a nervous glance over his shoulder at them again. Figuring that Bane was telling her how much of an idiot jock he was—or at least something. Alec wasn’t here to worry about _that_ , he couldn’t worry about it. Not with how his father was already breathing down his back about his game. Last week was their first game, and they as a team hadn’t done will. His father made sure always to be at them all, and of course was verbal about how bad the team sucked. It had been on the way home, which was relatively short, that Robert had made Alec feel like the size of a grain of rice.

“Alright! Everyone warm up!” Shavoone looked around the room. “Magnus, darling be a dear.” She smiled knowing that Magnus was mostly warmed up already. Magnus said something under his breath, but then forced a smile when he looked at the teacher at him, gave her a little nod and then to leading the class when Shavoone’s phone started ringing and he rolled his eyes when Madame Loss made her way out of the studio and Magnus glared at Alec, who was standing at the back like a useless piece of wood and didn’t know what to do with himself. Magnus narrowed his eyes and decided to ignore the idiot, who had already spoiled his mood by invading _his_ special place at school.

Alec was trying his best to keep up with Bane, sitting down as the other instructed to start at stretching out the toes and legs, but he didn’t show any special kinds of exercises how to do that and he narrowed his eyes, looking around to see what the other students were doing and he felt his cheeks heating, because he felt stupid. And so out of his comfort zone. What was worse was the fact that Bane seemed to be _enjoying_ this, seeing him struggle like this and he tried not to get it to him as he worked on his toes, which he was probably doing the wrong way. He pressed his lips together and then looked down, because Bane’s eyes were _laughing_ at him. And it was true, Magnus was having far too much fun with seeing Lightwood struggle like this, going around the studio, helping all of the others _except_ for him and Alec huffed under his breath.

Fine, he didn’t need this idiot’s help. Probably didn’t even deserve it; he called him a freak in front of everyone back at the Art class and he then looked down. That was uncalled for; Magnus didn’t deserve to be called that. He was just being nice to him, wasn’t he? But Alec had been an ass back then. He just hated being on stop light like that and with Raj teasing… it was just too much and he took in a deep breath as he spread his legs open and tried to do _something._ But everything seemed to be wrong since Magnus wouldn’t stop looking at him in _that_ kind of way, which pissed Alec off, but he said nothing and in the end, he just pressed his legs together, folded his arms on top of his chest and looked  at the ceiling. Yes, just like he thought… dance class was a fucking disaster.

Oh, Magnus was having fun, the other looked so miserable. Maybe it was going to be enough for him to give up on the dance class and just leave. In the meantime, as he was helping the others, Shavoone came back and was quite surprised to see that Magnus was helping all of the others except for the new guy. She narrowed her eyes, called Magnus up to the front and scolded him. She knew Magnus’ opinion of jocks, but to her it didn’t matter. In her class everyone got the same treatment and because it was Alec’s first day, it seemed really unfair to her that Magnus was flat out ignoring the poor teen. It was really out of Magnus’ character, so to give Magnus a kind of a punishment, she made him help Alec stretch and show him a few dance positions on his own, while she’d lead the rest of the class. Magnus wanted to just… _die,_ but did what he was told to, stomping back to the idiotic jock, who was just _sitting_ there and Alec looked up when he saw Bane coming closer.

“Yes?” asked Alec, who was sitting down and Magnus groaned, trying to keep his emotions under control.

Breathe in, breathe out, relax, just like that, yes, don’t let the idiot get to you, said Magnus to himself and then looked over to Shavoone, who was keeping a close eye on him, making sure that he was going to _help_ Alec, so he just leaned down and got onto the floor as well, sitting next to Alec, whose eyes widened. “Scoot over, I’ll help you stretch,” said Magnus, keeping himself under control and Alec narrowed his eyes.

“Why?” asked Alec.

“Because Madame Loss said so,” hissed Magnus and then went closer to Alec. “Look, you don’t like me and I for sure don’t like it… so just do as I say,” whined Magnus. “Make this less painful for the both of us, will you?” he said and Alec said nothing, but just nodded and then looked down. Bane didn’t like him, did he? Well, he couldn’t blame him. He was kind of a dick to him back then. But it wasn’t like he did it on purpose. It was because of that stupid rumor, which said that-

“Fine,” said Alec, deciding to just keep quiet and listen to the other.

“So,” said Magnus and took in a deep breath, happy to see that at least the idiot agreed with him on that. “Did you warm up your toes?” he asked and Alec nodded.

“I think so,” replied Alec. How was he supposed to know?! He just did what the others were doing, really, so he didn’t know how effective his flexing was before. Magnus rolled his eyes, but then nodded, because he had seen some of Alec’s attempts before. They weren’t _that_ bad and he then decided to work on Alec’s legs. Again, he didn’t care.

“Just do what I do,” said Magnus and slowly opened up his legs, Alec looking and his eyes widened when Magnus was doing the splits and he narrowed his eyes. There was no way he could do _that_. His thighs already hurt just thinking about it and he then looked up at Magnus, who was impatiently waiting. Alec opened his legs as wide as he could and Magnus arched an eyebrow. That was it? He wasn’t very flexible for a jock. “Try wider?”

“I can’t,” said Alec and felt his cheeks heat up.

“Fine,” said Magnus, deciding to help. “Give me your hands,” said Magnus and Alec narrowed his eyes. Why did he need his hands?! They were working on legs, why- “Just do _it_ ,” said Magnus, rolled his eyes and reached forward, took Alec’s hands into his own, spread his legs again his feet touching Alec’s, forcing his legs open wider and Alec let out a gasp when Magnus pulled onto his hands and pulled him much, _much_ closer to himself.

Alec’s cheeks flushed when he looked at how close Magnus’ face was, but then all of that was forgotten when he pulled him even _closer_ and Alec felt a splitting pain in his inner thighs and he moaned out in discomfort. “Fuck, that hurts,” he stammered and Magnus grinned. “Can’t you take it a bit easy on me? It’s my first day,” he whined and Magnus couldn’t stop grinning. It brought his much pleasure to see Lightwood in pain like that. Served him right, for being a dick before. “You’re a sadist,” said Alec.

“And you’re a dick, so we’re even now,” said Magnus and made a short pause when he noticed that Alec got all awkward again. He felt bad for calling him a freak before again and he pressed his lips together. “Come on, open your legs wider,” urged him Magnus. “You’re so _stiff_ ,” he said and then let go off his hands and crawled behind Alec, who stiffened when he felt Magnus’ hands on his back.

“W-what are-”

“Close your legs and try touching your feet without bending your knees,” said Magnus, not really being aware of Alec’s uncomfortableness and he frowned because the other just kept sitting still. “Well? We don’t have the whole day to sit here,” said Magnus impatiently and shoved Alec forward. Alec pressed his legs together and tried to reach his toes, but he whined as he couldn’t. And why was Bane so touchy and feely with him? It made him feel awkward, but not it a bad way. Alec narrowed his eyes and he then tried to focus on stretching than on thinking of Magnus.

“I can’t,” said Alec.

“Keep your back straight,” said Magnus behind Alec, trying to teach him about posture and he ran his fingers down the jock’s spine, who flinched and his back was quickly straight. “Good, now if you can’t reach your toes, try grabbing onto your ankles,” said Magnus and Alec’s face flushed when he felt Magnus’ hands on his sides. Seriously, has this guy heard of a _personal space?_ Alec’s personal space felt terribly invaded, but he said nothing and he only stiffened. “Ugh, just relax, you’re stiff as a board,” said Magnus and Alec looked over his shoulder.

“I’m _trying,_ ” hissed Alec. Not really.

After bickering throughout the entire stretching session, Magnus took Alec to the barre, so show him a few positions and simple moves, to get him to know the _feel_ of ballet, which was kind of a pain in the ass since he wanted to dance on his own, but whatever. “Okay, now I’ll show you a few simple positions and moves,” announced Magnus and Alec nodded. “First hold the barre with both of your hands,” said Magnus, deciding that he’d be only working on positions and _plies_ that day, adding the arms and hands movements next time. He really didn’t have the patience to teach Alec how important arms were. Maybe Madame Loss would take pity on him next time and teach Alec herself.

Alec turned to barre and placed his both hands on top of it, then looked down. “Now what?”

“First position,” said Magnus, pressed his legs together, turned his feet outwards and Alec tried to mimic him. Okay, that wasn’t that hard. He got this! “Now, a _plie_ ,” he said, bending his knees outwards and slowly slid down, then back up and Alec watched that. It seemed simple. Oh, this ballet thing was going to be a piece of cake! Alec did that _plie_ thing, thinking he got this, but apparently not, because Magnus started laughing when he did the damn thing.

“What?” snapped Alec, Magnus still laughing, because Lightwood looked ridiculous. Instead of keeping his hips forwards, he stuck his butt out when he bent his knees. “Stop laughing and help me, damn it!” said Alec, cheeks red with embarrassment.

“Sorry,” said Magnus and then stepped closer to Alec. “Get in first position again,” he said, Alec doing that and he then gripped the barre, trying to not mind the embarrassment too much. This better be worth it with his game! “Now, keep in mind, when you bend your knees, you need to keep your hips forward,” said Magnus and Alec nodded, trying to do the damn thing, but his butt was sticking out again and Magnus snorted. “Let me help you,” he said and Alec froze when he felt Magnus’ hands on his hips. “Now try to do it again,” said Magnus, but Alec’s brain was over-heating and he swallowed thickly. What the hell was going on? Then, when his heart skipped a beat, Alec snapped and pushed Magnus away.

“W-what… are you feeling me up for?” asked Alec defensively, voice snappy and cold. He didn’t mean it, it was just his protective mechanism.

“I...” said Magnus and rolled his eyes. “was helping you,” he then said and shook his head. “Y’know, I’m not trying to get into your pants. I know I have quite the… reputation, but,” said Magnus, aware of the horrible rumors Camille told about him. “Usually, I’d pick someone with more brain cells than you have to offer,” he said and Alec wanted to slap himself across the face. Magnus’ remark didn’t even bother him, he just felt so _stupid._ He didn’t even know why he snapped.

“Sorry,” said Alec and Magnus arched an eyebrow. Was the jock _apologising_ to him?! The apology was awkward, but it was the first time that a jock apologised to him. “I didn’t-”

“It’s okay,” said Magnus and shrugged.

“And about what happened in the Art,” he whispered and Magnus looked at him. “For that, I’m sorry too,” he then added and Magnus sighed, placed his arms on top of his chest and shrugged again. What was done was done, but the apology came as a pleasant surprise, so maybe Lightwood wasn’t as bad as he thought. “I just… the guys on the team and the rumours they started about… And I-” he stammered and ran fingers through his hair. He really wasn’t good at apologies.

“Apology accepted,” said Magnus after a while and said nothing more. Alec’s face brightened after that, smile bright enough to melt the icebergs. Well, it sure as hell melted one iceberg, the one around Magnus’ heart and he just stood there for a while, blinking, reminding himself that he was still in the dance studio. Magnus slapped himself back to reality and then took in a deep breath. “Right, now, let’s get back to training,” said Magnus and Alec gave him a little nod, Magnus’ stomach making a weird flip when he remembered the bright smile, which was by now already gone and a little smile crept upon Magnus’ face himself.

Maybe teaching Lightwood the dance wasn’t going to be as bad as he first thought!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Us again!
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> Enjoy!

Even with the shower that Alec had taken that morning, his body was still aching. Between football, dance and his father’s unrealistic training. He wasn’t getting much rest, and here Alec was yawning through first period. Which was Art with his coach’s wife nonetheless. So even if he wanted to catch even a few moments of rest,  _ that  _ wasn’t gonna happen. Nor would it be able to happen next period either, mainly because if you slept in Brawell’s class you got detention. And that wasn’t exactly something Alec could afford to get, not with who his parents were. 

It didn’t help how tight they were with Grandma Herondale. It wasn’t helping that Alec’s head was splitting from the  _ lack _ of everything—he needed. Which Mrs G clapped her hands trying to get everyone attention, “I would like for everyone to get into pairs, if you don’t willingly I will do it for you.” Alec inwardly groaned, what was she gonna have them do?

Alec hated this group assignments… well, pairs in this case. Either way, he hated working with other people on things, especially when it came to art. He wasn’t very good at it, not confident in his skills and that was why he preferred keeping things to himself. Alec glanced at the other students. Maybe being paired up with Theodore Underhill wouldn’t be so bad, he thought and then sighed.

Magnus, on the other hand, didn’t mind working in pairs or groups. Usually, but this time it was different. The class was full of jocks and he wasn’t looking forward to pairing up with one of them. As he looked around over his shoulders and saw the rest of the jocks he just rolled his eyes. Oh, who was he kidding? This was going to suck, there was no decent people in that class. Well, everyone except for Lightwood guy. He still wasn’t too sure about him, but he did apologise to him for calling him a freak and to Magnus it felt sincere. So, maybe pairing up with him wouldn’t be  _ that _ bad? To be honest, Lightwood was the only decent option on his opinion. Far better than the other jerks sitting at the back and he looked towards 

Mrs. Garroway was pretty unamused that none of the students seemed to be too interested in pairing up, so in the end, she decided to take the matters in her own hands. No slacking off in her class. “Very well then,” she said and folded her arms on top of her chest. “Theo, you’re with Raj,” she said and Alec felt his heart sinking. The only good option was gone and he smacked himself across the head for not asking him right away. Well, Bane wasn’t such a bad choice either, but Alec worried what people might say if he asked Magnus himself. The rumours were already alive and spreading, so he didn’t want to add more fuel to that fire.

“Magnus,” said Jocelyn and Magnus perked up, praying and hoping that it wouldn’t be someone from the annoying ones. “You’re with Lightwood,” she said and Magnus felt weight lifting off his chest. It wasn’t perfect,  _ but _ , he could do much, much worse. As Mrs. Garroway said that, there was some annoying whistling from the back and Alec felt his cheeks heating up, stomach flipping as he looked over to Magnus. So, they were working in pairs.  _ Together. _ Alec took in a deep breath, pressing his lips together and he reminded himself  _ not _ to be a dick to him again. He helped him at the dance class, so Alec decided to be a decent human being. Magnus was pleasantly surprised when Alec looked at him and sent him a little smile across the room. 

“Remember the last assignment, that you did as homework. Drawing a reflection of yourself, as you saw yourself.” Mrs G spoke, walking along the front of the class. Alec was nodding along, sort of listening. But that was only because, how awkward this was, especially for himself. The rumors didn’t help, God’s how he wished Lydia hadn’t broken up with him. Then these silly rumors would be null and void, maybe getting another girlfriend? Because, you know.

“Mr Lightwood, are you listening?” 

A flush creep onto his cheeks, because he wasn’t actively listening. He was more worried about what the guys were thinking of him being paired with Magnus. “No, ma’am. Sorry, ma’am.” Knowing just how bad his mother would scold him if he didn’t apologize for not listening.

“I’ll let it slide this once, but you need to listen,  _ boy _ ,” said Jocelyn and then sighed, massaging her temples. The jocks were gonna drive her mad one day. “So, today I want you to draw your  _ partner _ ,” she said and Raj was already cracking jokes about Magnus and Alec, Magnus rolling his eyes at the front. “You can use whatever drawing technique you want, just express how you see them through your eyes,” she said and Alec narrowed his eyes. What did that even mean? “Now, chop-chop. Stand up and change seats, so you’ll be sitting with your partner,” she said and Alec looked down, then around to see the jocks winking at him and snickering.

Magnus rolled his eyes. This was never going to work out, he could see that Alec was so tense. Just like he was tense on the dance practice. My God, Magnus had never met someone so tense and unwilling to just let go of that control and just  _ relax. _ Alec Lightwood was a control freak. He glanced over to Alec, who suddenly stood up, took his things and moved to the front, ignoring the whistles from the back. If he was going to work with Bane, he was going to be as far away from the idiots at the back as it was possible. 

“Can I… can I sit down here?” asked Alec awkwardly and pointed to the empty spot next to Magnus, who nodded.

“Of course,” he said and chuckled. “It’s not like you have much of a choice. It’s either here or back  _ there, _ ” he said and rolled his eyes. Alec gave him a little nod and sat down, looking in front of himself, feelings his cheeks heating up, because the laughing at the back didn’t die out, even if Mrs. G told them to shut up. 

“Alec,” started Magnus and glanced to the back, where the morons were sitting and he sighed. “Don’t let them get to you, they’re idiots anyway,” he said and Alec slowly nodded, but was nervous as hell. God, this would get the rumours even worse. And then they would think that he was  _ gay. _ Well, not that there was anything wrong with being that, but just… Alec wasn’t and he didn’t like people thinking that of him. Why? Why did it bother him so much? Alec wanted to snap at Magnus, but then he would feel even worse. Bane was just trying to help.

“Yeah,” breathed out Alec and gave Magnus a nervous smile. “So, um,” he stammered. “We should draw each other, yeah?” he forced out and tried not to look at Magnus too much as that would get the rumour even worse. “Though, I have to warn you, you’ll end up looking like Shrek or something. I can’t draw for shit,” he said, trying to joke and Magnus smile, a full on smile brightening his face and Alec felt his heart skipping a beat. What the actual  _ fuck? _

“Worry not,” said Magnus as he laughed. “I think you can do better than that. I’ve seen the painting you made, when Mrs. G asked us to draw what inspired us,” said Magnus and Alec’s cheeks heated. “So, you’ll do just fine,” said Magnus and gently tapped Alec’s back, trying to be friendly, but he soon realised that he made a mistake, because Alec froze up on the spot. If looks could kill, Magnus would drop dead right at that spot, because the look on Alec’s face could kill and Magnus quickly withdrew his hand. “Sorry, I crossed a line,” he said.

“Yes you have,” snapped Alec and then made a short pause, feeling like a dick again. “Sorry.”

Magnus narrowed his eyes and said nothing. Seriously, what was up with Lightwood?!

“No, I’m  _ sorry.”  _ A groan released from Alec, “I’m just..” What was he? Stressed was the only word Alec could find for it. Things between him and his father were tenser as ever. Training with the man, it was their ‘ _ bonding _ ’ time as his father liked to call it. It wasn’t like Robert actually cared about him. He was out of state on some conference or something. Alec didn’t think that was what it was.. Alec thought that Robert was actually with that woman.

“Lightwood.” His head snapped up looking at Bane. There was a soft look on Bane’s features, and Sebastian and the others making noises again. He mumbled a sorry, he really needed to start listening to Iz about overthinking everything. “Let’s just get to work..” He tried to push his feelings about everything away. 

**

Isabelle Lightwood, was beyond bored towards the end of AP English, so she was more than happy when the bell finally rang, marking the end of the period. She collected her things into her backpack and headed off to her locker. Usually she’d met Simon and held to lunch, but since biology the day before… They hadn’t exactly spoken, she had gotten jealous over all the time Simon was spending with Clary. Who was also someone Jace hadn’t shut up about, she was tired of hearing about Fray all the time. 

“Well, look at this scrumish little thing here.” A shiver ran over Iz, as she could feel his eyes on her. As she closed her locker, there was Jonathan Morgenstern. Staring at her, and it was making her cringe. She had told him many, many times that she wasn’t interested, but he wouldn’t listen. And it creeped her out the way he was staring at her. She could swear that he had a weird obsession with her, because she caught him stalking her a few times. Even so, she never said anything to Alec or the others. She didn’t want them to worry, especially not Alec. Her big brother had already too much on his plate.

Izzy might not know what exactly was going on with her brother, but she knew something was bothering Alec beyond the normal things. She wished Alec would speak to her, but it was Alec. “I’m nothing scrumish for you.” She looked at him, not seeing any type of appeal. As she already hadn’t in the last two weeks. Telling him a number of times already.

The hallway was rather quiet, considering lunch had just started. There were other people walking by, but none were paying attention to what was going on outside of their own worlds. “So Isabelle, that’s it right?” The way Jonathan said her name, it made her skin crawl. “Yes, that is my name.” She spoke not looking away from what she was doing. Iz didn’t want to give Jonathan the time of day. Even though she told him time and time again the the last few weeks, that she wasn’t interested. “Slide off the tongue quite nicely.” She stilled as she felt him move closer to her, her locker shutting. Her eyes glanced over at him, “Silky..” As uncomfortable as felt, she wished he’d leave.

“Come on sweetheart, let me take you on a date.” A devilish grin and a waggle of his eyebrows. What was his idea of a  _ date _ .

“How many times am I going to have to tell you no, for you to get it.” Iz said trying to get out of how he had her pinned against her locker. “I need to get to lunch, excuse me.” Trying to push on his arm, which had his other pulled her back flush against the locker. It scared her, eyes widen at him. What was his deal? “Let me go,” she said, despite her obvious fear. Yes, she was afraid, but she wasn't going to let an idiot like that talk to her like that. 

“Not until you agree to go out with me,” purred Jonathan in a creepy way and Isabelle swallowed thickly as his hold around her arm tightened, Izzy letting out a small moan of discomfort and Jonathan grinned which sent shivers down her back. “I'll show you what good time looks like, I'll take you to a ride of your lifetime,” he said and Isabelle felt sick.

“Do you really think I'd ever go out with someone like  _ you? _ Even if you were the last man on this planet it wouldn't happen,” snapped Isabelle, because she had it enough. She wasn't going to allow him to speak to her like that. “Go away,” she said and tried to push him away, Jonathan’s face darkening with anger. He didn't like rejection, it never happened. Not to him, he scored every chick that he wanted! “Move!” hissed Izzy and attempted to push him away again, without success.

Jonathan brought his creepy face to Izzy’s, in attempt to force a kiss on her. However, Izzy slapped him and with that pushed Jonathan over the edge. “You  _ bitch,”  _ he spat and rammed Izzy harder against the locker and lifted his hand up, in attempt to return her the slap. However, before he could do that, someone grabbed Jonathan's shoulder and pushed him back, throwing him against the locker. Isabelle looked to her side and saw a very pissed off senior next to Jonathan. Magnus Bane. Apart for his name, Izzy didn't know a lot about him.

“Get away from her, you swine,” said Magnus. 

“Oh lookie here! The  _ fag  _ thinks he’s mighty.” Jonathan smirked. “We were just having a conversation.” The creeps eyes moved over to Izzy, who’d stiffened again. 

Magnus eyes focused on the scum bag in front of him, instead of the young girl that had scurried off away from Morgenstern the moment, he threw  _ him _ off. Who was now laughing at him, like really? “Are you alright?” Magnus asked casting his eyes over to the girl who seemed to be trembling, still. 

“Yeah, I’m okay.” Was what Iz responded with, but she wasn’t exactly okay. The guy—Morgenstern had been doing this for weeks. Nor was he talking no for an answer, today had been the first time he’d grabbed her or well got physical with her. “Just get away from me,” she then said, speaking to Jonathan then and Magnus narrowed his eyes when Jonathan wouldn’t listen and instead grabbed her wrist. That snapped a switch inside of Magnus. He hated scums like this guy, they sickened him.

“Come on, sweetheart, you just-”

“Get the hell away from her,” hissed Magnus and shoved Jonathan away from Isabelle, the other now pissed and he walked over to Magnus, grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pushed him against one of the lockers, pinning him hard against it and Magnus only rolled his eyes. The guy didn’t scare him at all. Jonathan was just  _ laughing.  _ This was all just a joke to him, a game?!

“Listen,  _ fag, _ ” spat Jonathan and held Magnus’ shirt tighter. “You wouldn’t-”

“Oh go screw yourself Morgenstern,” said Magnus and rolled his eyes, then pushed Jonathan away, but the jock wasn’t done with him yet. Oh, no, not by a long shot and as Magnus wanted to go to console Izzy, Jonathan grabbed him again, but Magnus was quicker and he ended up giving Jonathan a well deserved slap. It wasn’t a punch, but still it humiliated the jock enough to return the hit, punching Magnus right on his cheek. 

Magnus was caught off guard and he lost balance, falling onto the floor, cursing as the entire left side of his face hurt like hell and he felt his anger boiling when Jonathan started laughing again. “You son of a bitch,” stammered Magnus and then started picking himself off the floor, Isabelle trying to get Jonathan to calm the fuck down, but he just pushed her away. Just as things were about to get worse, another student, Simon Lewis, hurried over to them, “What’s going on here!” Simon squeaked in a high pitch voice. 

As much as Izzy wanted to say nothing, and even though they’d been fighting. She crumbled when she saw Simon, running over to him. “Izzy?” His eyes widen. Simon had never seen Iz like she was at the moment. “You can’t tell Alec.” She whispered, against his chest. 

“Why? Iz what happened?” Simon was concerned as well as confused. 

Clary had been looking for Simon since class was let out they’d been in Music, and she’d forgotten to give his pen back. She caught up to Simon on the hallway, not noticing her brother there right away. “Simon,” said Clary and went over to Simon, but then quickly forgot all about the pen when she noticed Jonathan, Izzy, Magnus and a crowd of students gathering around them. Knowing Jonathan, she narrowed her eyes and glared at her brother. “What did you do  _ now? _ ” she asked.

“Ah come on  _ sis,  _ don’t be like that.” Jonathan turned to see his sister standing there. “Just some fun between  _ friends _ .” That was a loose phrase to say. “Yes, you harassing someone after they’ve clearly said no,  _ makes _ us friends.” Magnus said pushing himself off the ground.

“Just  _ leave,  _ before you cause anymore trouble. Or I  _ will  _ make sure dad knows.” Clary glared at her brother, even he gave her the creeps. “He isn’t  _ our  _ father.” Jonathan grumbled, knowing that Clary would say something.

It was Simon that asked, “Whose your dad?” As he still had Iz clinging to him. “The football coach.” She smiled trying to make light of it all. 

**

When Alec thought that putting math into his first semester was a good thing last year—he was thinking he was crazy. His head was hurting from trying to keep up with the pace the teacher went.  It was while he was standing in line to get a tray for lunch that he  _ heard _ whispers, and watching some of the people point and whisper at him.  _ ‘The rumors are saying he’s dating Magnus Bane.’  _ Alec rolled his eyes, ‘ _ That’s just a rumor, he’s the quarterback of our football team, no way that’s true.’ _ It was a group of freshmen girls behind him,  _ ‘Still it be hot.’  _ Hot? How was that hot?  _ ‘I mean him, and have you seen Magnus. He pulls off makeup better than my older sister.’  _ “Next!” Was what Alec heard as he scrambled forward. Clearly more confused than when he’d left math. This rumor was getting out of hand, and it had been going on for weeks now.

Looking down at the try and seeing two opinions to choose from, either were good, but at least the pizza opinion was the lessor of the evils. Looking at the salad bar, nothing interested Alec all that much. So, he moved onto sitting at the table that everyone normally sat at. Usually Iz was there before anyone else. A pang of worry rushed over him, but as overprotective as he was. Alec knew that Iz could fight her own battles. 

“Hey, where’s Iz?” It was Simon who asked, “No idea, I was the first here.” Alec looked up at Simon. “I’ll go see if I can find her.” As Simon sat down his Star Wars lunch bag, “Okay.” Figuring, maybe Simon wanted to apologize. But, then again. Their fights usually were nothing serious. 

And in comes Jace, who was already beginning to whine about Chemistry again. 

“How am I going to passs! I failed horribly last time.” Jace said as he sat there whining about it.

“Do the work.” Alec shrugged, watching for Simon and Iz to come in. As Simon had showed up before Iz had. Which he knew that they were fighting, but didn’t know how bad it was. But also said that he was gonna go look for her, but that had been ten minutes ago or longer. “Hey, Alec. Where’s Iz?” Jace asked.

“Don’t know, but Simon when to look for her.” He said watching the door. 

“Oh, I wanted to ask her if she’d help me.” Alec rose his eyebrow at him. “You know the only way to get her to help, if by giving her favorite ice cream.” Jace nodded, “I know. I think I know what it is.” Alec smiled, knowing that Jace had said that in the past. 

So they ate their lunch in silence as Alec was still too busy with thinking about the on-going rumours about him and Magnus. That and the fact that Simon hadn’t returned with Isabelle yet worried him. Kind of. Well, not really worried, but it was kind of weird that Simon and Isabelle took such a long time to show up, but his worries melted away when he finally saw Isabelle and Simon returning after some more time had passed and he sighed in relief. However, he narrowed his eyes, because he could see that something was obviously wrong. Isabelle’s face was kind of pale and she looked shaken up, Simon having his arm wrapped around her shoulders, trying to calm her down. Alec wondered what had happened and he narrowed his eyes. However, when the two of them returned back with their plates, going over to Jace’s and Alec’s table, Isabelle looked in a better mood. Well, at least she seemed to be, but Alec wasn’t going to let this slide.

“Izzy, where were you?” asked Alec, his mouth full of food and Isabelle glanced over to Simon, who eyed her away and then he looked away. Simon wanted to tell Alec what happened, but he promised to Isabelle before not to say anything, so he decided to keep his promise. For now. “Iz?!” asked Alec again and then glanced at Simon.

“I was just… had to talk with the teacher about the upcoming project,” she lied and then sighed, shrugging. That was a lie, Alec wasn’t a fool. He knew his sister and when she lied. He then looked over at Simon, who was silently eating his food, but had worry written all over his face. Yes, he was worried, because Jonathan guy was creeping him out. Plus, the creep was Clary’s brother!

“Simon, tell me what really happened,” said Alec and then narrowed his eyes. 

“What she said,” stammered Simon, not liking how Alec was staring at him, it was making him feel uncomfortable. But then again, that was the point. “She was just coming out of the classroom and we-we went over to the lockers,” stammered Simon and then looked at Isabelle, who nodded. “Then we got into a little chat over there and time just flew by,” he added and Alec arched an eyebrow.

His eyes were on Simon, knowing that if he probably stared enough. Simon would crack and tell him exactly what was going on. “So, Jace did you know Clary’s father is y’all Coach?” Alec eyebrow arched higher. “That would mean her mom is Mrs Garroway.” Alec muttered, Simon’s eyes looked back at him confused. 

Jace and Alec looked at each other, the blonde shrugging. “Good to know,” said Jace, not really showing much interest in that and then he looked at Izzy, looking rather desperate. “Iz, you gotta help me with Chemistry,” groaned Jace and Isabelle rolled her eyes, sighing, but decided to listen to her brother, Jace complaining while Alec kept quiet as he stared at Simon and Izzy. Yep, there definitely something happened between them and Alec was going to come to the bottom of things… sooner or later.

**

Magnus was at the dance studio, watching himself in the mirror, studying his face closely, silently cursing as he saw the forming bruise and he knew it was only about to get much darker and nastier looking. Well, then again, he could easily use so makeup to hide the bruise, so that didn’t bother him that much. What bothered him was the pain, it fucking hurt. The cheek, jaw… well, the whole side of his face felt sore and he whined in discomfort when he pressed against the cheek too firmly and he then just sighed under his breath. At least he made the Jonathan stop bothering… Izzy?

“Magnus?” Heard his name from behind him, but hadn’t seen Shavoone coming up next to him. Magnus has been focused on his cheek. Luckily none of the other students had came in yet. “Darling, what happened?” Watching him press on his cheek. “Nothing to worry about, promise.” He let out a weak chuckle. She wanted to know but there was sounds outside the door just before it opened, and she wouldn’t exactly get that chance. “Alright, but just because Cat’s away doesn’t mean you can’t talk to me.” Magnus nodded to her whisper as she squeezed Magnus’ shoulder as she moved away. 

Magnus resigned himself to the bruise, there was nothing he could do. Well, maybe pay back the son of the bitch that did it. The bruise didn’t help the rest of his day, as he still felt quite pissed at Lightwood and what happened at Art. As his thoughts were still with Alec, he quickly warmed up, in a hope that he would be able to teach the rest of the class that day and  _ not _ focus on the Lightwood idiot again.

All Magnus wanted for the day was to dance away how he was feeling, the bruise brought up memories of the past. It brought up how Asmodeus his father treated him and his mother. Not that his father ever hit him where you could see it, but it was enough to keep him silent. Dancing was away for him to forget all of that, to use and express it. Dance saved him from the darkness that used to hide in his heart. He didn’t know how to express the feelings of fear and sadness with his words, it was difficult. But dance opened that option, it gave him the ability to express how he felt. It brought a sense of happiness back into his life, coloured his life, turned darkness into light and Magnus pressed his lips together. He sighed and got onto his legs, deciding to dance for a bit. One reason was to finish up his warm up, but the other was to get rid of the tension he felt in his chest as he couldn’t get rid of the memories of his father.

As Magnus was dancing around the room at the back of the dance studio, Alec Lightwood stepped inside of the room, sighing and rolling his eyes, expecting everyone to be staring at him, but no, no such thing. As he stepped inside, no one really noticed him as they were busy at staring at someone else, Bane at the back, who was dancing around the room, Alec narrowing his eyes as he decided to watch the show with the others as well. 

It was like Magnus was floating across the room, easy on his feet, arms and hands elegantly moving along and Alec cleared his throat as he tried not to stare, but that was kind of impossible since Magnus’ dance moves were so captivating. Alec’s heart made a  _ jump  _ when Magnus made a  _ pirouette  _ and he then quickly forced himself to look away, but kept on stealing glances at the dancing teen.

“Alright, everyone time for practice.” Shavoone stated knowing that Magnus could get lost in his own head as he danced. She knew of Magnus’ past, she might not know what was going on with him today. He’d eventually tell her, maybe. “Magnus, darling.” She waved to try get his attention, but didn’t know if he had. 

Magnus’ eyes opened slowly as he came to a stop, knowing good and well that practice needed to start. His eyes found Alec, before “Yes, Madam.” He never spoke to Shavoone as less than her title during practice. “Do you want me to warm up the class?” asked Magnus. “Or?”

“Be a dear and help our newest member, huh?” asked Shavoone politely. “He’ll need all the help he can get,” she said. “Plus, it looked like the two of you got along pretty well in the end last time,” she said and winked, thinking that Magnus made a friend. Magnus was tempted to tell her that couldn’t be further away from the truth, but he just gave his teacher a very forced smile and a nod, then rolling his eyes as he turned around to face the Lightwood idiot.

Alec was standing not too far from the two of them and was nervously playing with the hem of his shirt as he still didn’t get what happened before. He couldn’t look away when Bane was dancing earlier and his heart made a weird jump, Alec’s cheeks heating up, but then he narrowed his eyes when Magnus stepped closer and only then he registered a bruise on Magnus’ cheek.

“Madame Loss paired us up again,” said Magnus, unamused. 

“Alright.” It wasn’t as if Alec had much choice in the matter. Bane seemed to be his private teacher, when he was here—not that Alec understood. But you know. What can you do. “Are we gonna get touchy feely again?” Asking was better than getting caught off guard. It had taken Alec a moment to fully notice the bruise on Bane’s cheek. He’d heard about a commotion during lunch after in fifth period. He wanted to ask, but it wasn’t exactly his business. 

“Touchy-feely?” asked Magnus and rolled his eyes. “What are you, five?” he asked and then folded his arms on top of his chest and groaned when he saw Alec looking all confused. Alec was confused, be was  _ really, really _ confused. The thing that happened before when Bane was dancing still on his mind. “But, fine,” said Magnus, because Alec disliked being touched for some reason. Maybe he had some kind of an issue with being touched, some kind of a childhood trauma? Magnus would understand. Thinking it was that, Magnus got serious and nodded. “Fine, I promise not to touch you, at least not without asking you first,” promised Magnus and Alec just nodded.

“Okay,” said Alec. “Thanks.” Trying not to seem uncomfortable by the whole touching Magnus did. At least Bane would ask, instead of just doing it. It wasn’t that Alec didn’t  _ like _ being touched. It was more of how Maryse and Robert had raised him, and his siblings. If it wasn’t one of his siblings, he always got awkward. 

Magnus gave him a little nod and what looked like a polite smile. “So, what’s first?” He’d only done this possibly a few times now. But hadn’t quite picked it up yet.

“Well after the stretching, today I’ll be showing you the positions of arms.”  _ Arm positions?  _ What did that mean? Besides legs, he had to pay attention to his arms as well? He narrowed his eyes, but said nothing and decided to warm up first, so that the two of them could get on training those  _ arm positions.  _ The warm up session surprisingly went without any bickering and Alec was much more relaxed now that Magnus was sitting further away from him and Alec felt a lot more relaxed. However, as Magnus went on warming up as well, bending down in a rather  _ suggestive _ way, Alec’s eyes widened and he had to remind himself not to stare at Bane’s ass so obviously. What was with him? Was he-

“Lightwood!” said Magnus and turned around, narrowing his eyes when he saw that Alec wasn’t really moving and was just sitting there, face red as a tomato and he cocked his head to the side. “Do you feel okay? Your face is red,” he said and scooted a bit closer to Alec, but kept his distance as promised. “It is kinda  _ hot _ in here,” he then said and Alec cleared his throat. Yes, it was pretty hot in there, especially after Bane - “Do you want something to drink?” he then asked and Alec just shook his head.

“No-no… I’m, um, good, yes…. so let’s go on that positions,” stammered Alec and then flushed even more. “ _ Arm _ positions,” he said and quickly stood up, looking away from Magnus, who just stood there. Alec kept breathing in and breathing out, his heart kind of calming down as he stood at the barre, gripping on it and then he looked at Magnus, who was now standing close. 

“Someone’s eager today,” snickered Magnus, but didn’t push it too much with the teasing. “Okay, yes, arms,” he then said and rubbed his palms together. “First, and most important is the hand position,” said Magnus and Alec nodded, just listening, but didn’t really care. “Like this,” he said and showed Alec the position of hands, thumb and middle finger almost touching, but not quite, other fingers gently apart, slightly curved, looking delicate and elegant. That looked easy, but Alec knew from the week before that it wasn’t going to be  _ easy. _

“Like this?” asked Alec and tried to mimic Magnus, not quite getting it. It looked fine, but Magnus was a perfectionist. Lightwood’s fingers were looking too stiff. 

“Try to relax the fingers more,” said Magnus and shook his head, because it still wasn’t quite what he wanted to see. “Can I… Can I show you?” he asked and Alec looked at him. “I’ll only touch your hand for a second, I promise. If not then-”

“Okay,” croaked Alec and allowed Magnus to touch his hand, adjusting his fingers and Alec’s body heated up for the second time, but he didn’t push Magnus away. He  _ liked  _ the way-

“Yes, just like this, good job,” said Magnus and Alec managed to nod and Magnus winked, then stepped back a bit and then took in a deep breath. “Now, hold the barre with one hand, I’ll teach you arm positions with other one,” he said and Alec did as Magnus told him, showing him all of the arm positions, Alec struggling quite a bit. 

“This is hard,” whined Alec.

“You’ll get there,” said Magnus, amused and stepped closer. “Now, move from the fifth position to the second,” said Magnus, which meant moving the arm from above the head to the side and as he did so, Alec wasn’t very careful and quite clumsy, ending up slapping Magnus’ cheek in the process. Magnus let out a loud hiss, because Lightwood smacked him right against the bruised cheek and he quickly grabbed it. He knew it wasn’t on purpose, so he wasn’t annoyed, but it still hurt. “Ow-”

“Oh, shit, I’m so sorry,” said Alec. “It wasn’t on purpose, I’m just very bad at this,” he then added and then looked down, noticing that he had hit Magnus’ bruised cheek and he couldn’t help but to wonder. “Hey, what happened-” he stammered, but then stopped, thinking that it wasn’t his place to ask.  

“I got into a fight with Morgenstern,” said Magnus angrily as he was gently rubbing his aching cheek. Alec perked up when Magnus mentioned Jonathan and he narrowed his eyes. “He was harassing some girl.” It angered Magnus more than anything. Especially, witnessing how Morgenstern had her trapped against the locker.

With Bane saying that, it took Alec a second to put two and three together. That was Bane’s bruise and how odd Simon and Izzy had been at lunch. Especially when both came in, it had looked like Iz had been crying—and Iz hardly cried. The shock of finding it out was in his voice, “Did the girl have dark black hair, a purple dress?” Alec wasn’t completely sure what Iz had been wearing. That was because Alec couldn’t ever tell what day she’d wear nerdy stuff versus fashion forward. Though since her fight with Simon a couple days ago, everything seemed fashion forward that she was wearing. 

They were suppose to be practicing, but when Alec asked about the girl with a look of panic. Which Magnus was almost normal for him to see because of dance. But, this was different. Magnus thought about earlier, “I think so, why? Is she your love interest?” It wasn’t as if Magnus knew for sure that the girl that were talking about  _ was _ his sister. For all Magnus knew was  _ this _ girl was someone Lightwood was interested in, or the girl was in him and Morgenstern wasn’t happy about it. 

“Wh..at no..” Alec flushed at the mention of  _ love  _ interest. He’d only dated one person, and Alec never felt in love with her. Not  _ like _ that anyways, he always felt like a friend like that with Lydia. Maybe that was why they’d broken up, because she wanted to find that. “No, the girl in question is my little sister.” Trying to be more put together instead of a stumbling mess. Because to Magnus raised eyebrow when he stumbled before. “Anyway… what did Morgenstern do exactly?” he said, overprotective side showing again.

“Had her pin  _ against _ her locker, but as I said I took care of him.” Magnus boasted proudly, but winced at the size of the grin on his face making his jaw ache again. The talking also wasn’t helping, but the grin pushed it over the edge a little. 

Alec rose an eyebrow at him now, looking dead on at the bruise. “And yet, you're the one sporting a nasty bruise,” said Alec, but then went quiet. He should be thanking Bane for looking out for Izzy. “Thank you,” he then said and Magnus could tell that Alec meant it. “Morgenstern is… an ass,” he then said and then rolled his eyes. “He’s been after Izzy since the first day of school and I can't stomach the asshole,” he said and groaned.

“He's trouble,” said Magnus with a nod. 

“I wish she’d told me.” Alec muttered, but knew they needed to get back to practice. “So about  _ these  _ arm positions.” He whined a little, “I’ll try not to smack you  _ this  _ time.” Cracked a teasing grin from Alec.

“It's a deal,” said Magnus with a grin. “And I promise to keep an eye on your little sis,” he added with a wink, making Alec's cheeks heat up again and a wider smile spread across Alec's lips even though he tried to remain serious. There was just  _ something  _ about Magnus that wouldn't allow him to stop smiling.


	7. Chapter 7

Alec hadn’t been home long, but his parents weren’t home either. It was too early for them, it was only about five—okay maybe closer to six when he heard the clock chime. The day had been a long one, but for what teen wouldn’t it be? Not that Alec considers himself dramatic anyways. Iz wasn’t home, Alec hoped that she was with Simon. That everything was okay with her, after everything that happened. 

 

At the moment, Alec was taking a well deserved shower, because he needed it. He had just come from dance practice, all sweaty and sticky and he just needed to shower. Besides, usually shower helped him with clearing his thoughts, as he had a lot on his mind and he hoped that it would help him calm down this time as well, because he was pretty worried  about the thing that happened with Isabelle that day. He swore to God he was going to kill Morgenstern if he tried to do something like this ever again. No, if he only  _ looked  _ at Izzy, he was killing him.

 

Alec huffed under his breath and then closed his eyes as the warm water heated up his body, turning up the heat of the water and he hissed as the glass of the shower fogged up and he leaned his head back, resting it against the tiled wall, pressing his lips together. His arms hurt like hell from all of those  _ positions _ that Bane was trying to teach him. Honestly, he knew he was horrible at this, but he still tried his best. Bane protected Izzy, so he wanted to show him some kind of a gratitude by showing him that he was serious about ballet.

 

Luckily, Magnus was quite kind and didn’t laugh too much at his mistakes, helping him with the positions by adjusting his arms and hands. And fingers. Ugh, ballet was so difficult, having to think of so many different details. But Magnus made it look so easy. Alec heated up when he remembered seeing Magnus dance that day and he licked his lower lip as he couldn’t get that memory out of his head. Magnus looked…  _ stunning.  _ Completely lost in his dance, expressing how, what he felt. It caught Alec’s attention and now he couldn’t focus on anything else, feeling hs stomach making a flip.

 

His body was feeling weird, especially when Magnus touched his hands and arms when adjusting those positions. It made Alec’s skin tingle, heat up. It felt like electricity was flowing through him, a new wave of adrenaline washing over Alec and he gritted his teeth, wanting to think about something else, but he couldn’t. He didn’t want to. Alec tried to clear his head, shaking his head and he reached over for the body wash, soaping himself up and he let out a gasp when an idea popped into his mind.

 

Alec  _ loved  _ the way Magnus’ hands felt against his hands and arms. How would they feel against other parts of his body? Alec slowly slid his hand from his chest, down to his stomach and quickly opened his eyes, flushing when he felt his blood traveling to southern places of his body and he quickly stopped touching his stomach. No, no… seriously what the fuck was wrong with him? He tried thinking of Lydia in that way when they were still dating, but nothing happened. Now, just one thought about Bane got him all hot and bothered?! 

 

Alec decided that it was probably the stress, balming all of this on it. However, Magnus kept playing with his mind, Alec cursing when he remembered Magnus bending over in front of him. Or the way he parted his legs when he was warming himself up. Magnus was so  _ flexible _ and his body was quite muscular, but not over the top. He had a toned body, carved by God himself and he flushed when he caught himself thinking that and he cursed when he looked down and saw that he was sporting a full hard on and he swallowed thickly.

 

“ _ Shit _ ,” he said and panicked. Alec felt wrong that he was thinking like that about Magnus, but he couldn’t help it. Yet, even though it felt wrong, he slid his hand down, wrapped his fingers around his cock and bit his lower lip as he moved his hand, keeping a firm grip around his length. “Oh,  _ fuck. _ ”

 

While Alec knew that he was home alone, there was still the possibility that  _ anyone _ could come home. So, maybe cursing out loud wasn’t the best thing to do. With the heat of the water washing down his back, and his right hand slipping under the grip from the water running down his chest. Steadying himself, with his legs widen, regripping and tugging again. “Mmm.” As he was biting his lip  _ this  _ shouldn’t feel this good. 

 

His left arm and head resting against under the shower head, watching his own hand move. Yet, and some point his hand had became Magnus’ in his fantasy. Bane’s hands were so very soft, versus his own rough ones. As Alec pulled a gasp past his lips, catching him by surprise. The name on his lips, but he bit down hard. To stop himself,  _ no _ . Alec could think about  _ him _ , in such away. Alec wasn’t that way, he was just pent up. There was no way  _ this  _ made him gay, as Alec could appreciate a good boy. 

 

The pit of his stomach grew tighten, Alec knew that he wasn’t gonna last much longer. His hand quickened, still picturing it as Magnus’. Before Alec could realizing, he was now picturing Bane in the shower along with him. Bane standing in front of him peppering him with kisses, along his neck and Bane’s other hand roaming his abs and chest. “Fuck.” Alec cursed as he felt his body wail up and release everything onto his own hand instead. 

 

The sound next, caused Alec to jump out of his post idled orgasm thoughts. “Alec? Everything okay?” It was his mom. A silent groan made its way out, “Yeah, everything’s peachy.” There was a matter of an okay, or something. Looking down at his hand, very much still now holding a limp dick that was spent.. His mind was in overdrive with denial, and already tensed again. 

 

There was  _ no _ way, he was  _ gay.  _

 

Alec grabbed a towel and wrapped it around his waist.  _ No way.  _ His head shook as he walked to his room. 

 

* * *

Magnus felt tired that day as he finally returned back home. Between his school work, dance practice and now becoming a private dance instructor to Lightwood, apparenalty. So, yes, he was tired as hell, but in the end it paid off. Seeing Alec smile at the end of the practice was all worth it. They weren’t exactly  _ friends _ , but they got along pretty well. Plus, Magnus was no fool… he could clearly see how attractive Alec was. He didn’t notice that until the last week, because that smile got Magnus hooked and he just felt himself getting giddy inside.

 

Alec definitely made him feel something, in a good way and now Magnus had another reason to look forward to the dance practice than only the dance. A silly smile spread across his face, but then he cleared his throat; Alec was only a  _ friend.  _ Well, a friend in the making. At least that was what Magnus liked to think. 

 

Magnus let out a small sigh when he finally saw his home in the distance and he hurried towards it, opening the door and he quickly took off his shoes and went into the living room, dropping his backpack there and slowly peeked inside of the kitchen where his mom was. “Mama, I’m home,” said Magnus. 

 

The woman turned around and her face lit up when she saw her son, slowly going over to him and she gave him a little hug, Magnus giving his mom a hug back. “My  _ bintang kecil  _ is finally home,” she said and gently pinched his cheek, Magnus flushing when his mom ruffled his hair and he chuckled at the nickname. It meant ‘little star’ in Indonesian, his mom calling him like that, because up to this day, he loved an old Indonesian nursery rhyme Anissa used to sing to him when he was little. 

 

“Mama!” said Magnus and smiled. 

 

“Come, help me set the table, the dinner’s all ready,” said Anissa and Magnus quickly nodded, kissed his mom’s cheek and then pointed to the table.

 

“Sit down, mama, I’ll set the table and serve the food,” he said, Anissa smiling and she then nodded.

 

Magnus knew that she often worked herself to hard, especially when it came to him. She did everything she could to protect him from his father—Asmodeus. The man nearly killed her as well, al because she was protecting him. “ _ Bintang kecil,  _ what happened?” Looking at his cheek from where she sat. “It’s nothing, Mama. I promise.” Trying to reassure her, but Magnus know she wouldn’t drop it. 

 

“Honey, I can read you like an open book,” said Anissa. “I know when something’s going on, so spill,” she said and Magnus grinned, shook his head and then looked up at his mom, who was looking over at him curiously. 

 

Magnus could feel his mama staring at him waiting for him to give in. While he didn’t want her to worry, Magnus also knew that she would. As he served her food he keep his head down. Her eyes just keep studying him. Magnus knew that he was fairly easy to read, especially by those that knew him well. “Please Mama, really it’s nothing. I had a run in with the side of my locker.” Which Magnus was a lie, silently wishing he had remembered to cover it up with makeup before leaving practice. 

 

Anissa stared at her son for a moment or so and narrowed her eyes. She didn't believe her son and it worried her that Magnus decided to  _ lie _ to her. Magnus rarely lied to her, so something told her that whatever happened must've been serious. “Magnus, honey,” she started and he looked at her. “Don’t lie to me,” she said with a soft voice and Magnus looked down, because he knew that he would end up telling his mom the truth anyway. He hated lying to her.

 

“I’m sorry,” said Magnus and shrugged. “I just don’t want you to worry, mama.”

 

“By lying to me you’ll only make me worry more,  _ Bintang kecil, _ ” said Anissa and Magnus sighed, because she had a point. 

 

“There’s this new guy in our school and he’s a total asshole,” said Magnus and looked up to his mom. “I saw him harassing a girl and he could physical with her,” he said and Anissa’s face darkened, because she knew where this was going. She knew all of this too well; she got to experience it first hand and it didn’t surprise her one bit that Magnus interfered with that. “And I just  _ snapped _ because he wouldn’t leave her alone,” said Magnus angrily, guys like that made him suck down to his stomach. “In my attempt to get him to leave I ended up with this,” he said and pointed to his cheek, his mother looking quite upset and Magnus quickly placed a hand on top of her shoulder. “But don’t worry, Mama, it doesn’t even hurt that much,” he then added and when he looked up at his mom for the second time, he was shocked to see tears in Anissa’s eyes.

 

“You’re so brave for standing up for that girl,” said Anissa.

 

A blush washed over his cheeks, because it was sort of embarrassing. “Thanks Mama.” He smiled, and he knew one thing that could put himself in a much better mood. That was watching dirty dancing and doing his homework after they ate, of course. 

 

* * *

Alec was again sitting towards the back of history, with Jace on his left. Who was again complaining about Chemistry. Alec was gonna have to talk to Izzy, because it had been an everyday thing for months. Not only did Jace whine about Chemistry, he’d also began whining over Clary. Whining and complaining about how Clary wasn’t interested, at least didn’t seem to. Alec had already enough things to worry about on his own - Bane constantly being on his mind - and now this? He really didn’t have the patience to deal with  _ this _ . He rolled his eyes and then looked at Jace, completely uninterested.

 

“Alec, so should I just go for it?”

 

Alec narrowed his eyes. Wait, what was the question? “I, um, yes?” he asked and Jace folded his arms on top of his chest.

 

“So, ask Clary out even the Coach is her father?” Jace asked, and as much as Alec didn’t care. “Look, you like her right?” Watching Jace nod, even though Jace had hit on almost every girl in school. “Then ask her out. Whose ever father before didn’t matter. Why should it now?” Alec shook his head, thinking of his own situation. But it was different, he’d only ever dated girls—or well Lydia. Sure he had his first kiss by some girl in like the eighth grade playing one of those stupid games. It was called seven minutes heaven. He didn’t understand it, because they had been shut in a closet and kissing in it. How had that been ‘heaven?’  

 

Jace thought about it for a bit and then gave Alec a nod. “Ahhh, you’re right.” Which Alec already knew that, but why was Jace even asking his opinion. His eyes wandered after that, class hadn’t exactly started, but it was bound to. The bell had just rang signaling for being tardy. His eyes bounce around looking for Bane, which it was sort of surprising that Bane was already here. Where had Alec been, oh right listening to the panda. Not that Alec could remember exactly how Jace got that name. 

 

He hadn’t been there, something between Iz, Simon and Jace of course. He could remember hearing about it in them retelling it, but they said it was better if you’d be there, but of course Alec hadn’t. His eyes were focused to the back of Bane’s head, who was a row ahead of him. “Lightwood gawking at Bane again.” Alec heard someone say, and he sputtered. “N..o I’m … not.” Truth was, he was. It was Camille, and Alec watched as Bane glared at her, and rolled his eyes at him. 

 

“Trouble in paradise?” It was again Camille, Alec bit his tongue to keep from saying anything. But, all Alec could think is that it would make matters worse either way. “Ther—.” Alec started, but didn’t finish as Roger walked into the class. Which left Camille snickering, no one had actually found out who started the rumor. There were a few guesses, but nothing confirmed.  

 

Magnus rolled his eyes when he heard Camille’s remarks, which were targeted at Alec and he wished for her to just shut the fuck up. He and Alec had just finally gotten along and he didn’t really want Alec to start snapping at him because of stupid and idiotic Camille. When it was just them, Alec acted differently. From what Magnus could tell, Lightwood was a pretty closed off guy, but was pretty pleasant once you’ve gotten to know him and Magnus was just in the process of getting to know him. He liked what he saw so far and he rolled his eyes when Camille sat down, looking over at Alec, who looked quite uncomfortable.

 

Alec was pretending to be listening to professor Branwell as he started explaining something about there being a project, but his mind was preoccupied with the fucking rumour and he glanced at Magnus. When Magnus saw that Alec was looking at him, he sent him a little smile and then rolled his eyes as he pointed at Camille and stuck his tongue out, making a face. Alec snorted at that and then looked over at Camille, then back at Magnus, who shook his head, trying to let him show not to pay attention to what Camille said before. 

 

“Bane!” snapped Roger and Magnus quickly turned to the front.

 

“Present,” said Magnus and then looked down as the entire class started laughing. “I, um, I mean… yes?” he tried again, because that apparently wasn’t what Branwell wanted him for and he then flushed up to his ears.

 

“Well, if you’re done staring at Lightwood over there,” said Roger and looked at Alec, who sank down in his chair and felt his face heating up again when everyone was staring at him as well. “Then please grace us with your presence in class, huh?” asked Branwell and Magnus said something under his breath and just nodded.

 

“I’m sorry, sir,” said Magnus and just kept scowling at the teacher. 

 

“Well, since it looks like you two are so fond of each other,” went on by Branwell, pushing things on purpose and Alec huffed under his breath, but said nothing. No, he shouldn’t be mad at Bane, even though he felt very, very annoyed with him by this point. Again, Magnus saved Izzy! “You two can work on a project  _ together, _ ” announced the man happily and the entire classroom started laughing, the jocks at the back whistling and Alec just wanted to run away. 

 

“But-” whined Alec, Branwell shushing him. Alec stopped complaining but he was horrified. First the rumours, then being paired up at Art and now a project at History with Magnus! Oh, what were the others going to think of him?! That only added more fuel to the rumours and he just hid his face into his palms.

 

“It’s decided, no whining, Lightwood,” said Branwell and folded his arms on top of his chest. While Lightwood was whining, Magnus felt oddly giddy about the news. 

 

Would it be stupid of him to ask what the project would be on? Alec was biting his lip and tapping his arm. “Uh, sir?” Alec asked because he hadn’t heard what they project was going to be about. If it had already been said, mainly because he was paying attention to Bane. Who’d been making fun of Camille. 

 

“Yes, Mr Lightwood?” The whole class eyes were on him much light they had been a few weeks ago. Branwell, also seemed impatient—which Alec knew he was that type of man. 

 

“What is the project about?” Alec asked, because of course he needed to know that. 

 

“Well, Mr. Lightwood has you been paying attention a moment ago, you’d know I would be getting to that.”  _ Right,  _ Again why was Branwell such an ass. Alec knew it couldn’t be because he dated the man’s daughter. Alec then decided to be silent, but because he was really wondering what the project was about, he decided to ask Bane, sending a folded piece of paper across the classroom, Magnus turning around when someone tapped onto his shoulder and handed him a piece of paper.

 

_ What’s the project about, again? _

 

The fact that Alec sent Magnus a piece of paper didn’t go unnoticed from the jocks and there was a whistle behind again, Alec ignoring them. This was for school work, they could whistle all they wanted. Magnus looked at Alec when he read what it said on the paper and rolled his eyes, but then smiled, quickly hiding the paper away from Branwell’s eyes. When the teacher wasn’t looking, he scribbled back a quick reply,  _ Greek history. _ There was another whistle and giggling when Alec received back the piece of paper and he narrowed his eyes. Hm. Greek history. That was an interesting topic, at least in his opinion. 

 

Alec wanted to start working on the project as soon as possible, so when the period ended, he waited for the jocks to leave the classroom and much to his luck, Magnus decided to wait for him there as well as they needed to make plans about the project, when they would work on it and other details. “So, we got paired up again, huh?” asked Magnus and Alec’s stomach made a flop when he remembered what he did in the shower and he quickly looked away.

 

“I know, what are the odds?” croaked Alec and nervously laughed, Magnus smiled as well and then leaned against his desk. “So, um, do you like… wanna come over after school?” asked Alec nervously and Magnus raised an eyebrow. Lightwood was stuttering, which was kind of out of his character and Magnus found it  _ adorable.  _ Magnus narrowed his eyes. Wait, what? “You know so that we can discuss what we’ll be working on. Greek history is kinda long,” said Alec, trying to crack a joke, because he thought that Magnus thought he was weird for inviting him over.

 

Magnus was surprised by the proposition, but he then nodded. “Yes, I’m free, so I can come over,” said Magnus and Alec smiled.

 

“Great,” said Alec, feeling a bit more confident. “I’ll, um, I’ll wait for you outside the school after the last period and we can go to my house together,” he said and Magnus nodded.

 

“You’ve got yourself a deal, Lightwood,” said Magnus lightly and then tapped Alec’s shoulder, before giving him a little wink, leaving the classroom and when Alec found himself alone, there was a wide and bright smile on his face. Magnus Bane was coming over that day. He didn’t know why, but that made him very happy.

* * *

 

When the last bell rang Magnus had gathered his things, and went about his normal routine. Lucky there wasn’t dance practice today, but he still usually helped Shavoone anyways. But he’d texted her a lunch letting her know that he had a project to work on with _ someone _ . Magnus didn’t say who, but either way—the who didn’t matter. Yes, Magnus Bane was nervous, he hardly ever got nervous. So why was he, now? 

 

Upon exiting the school the blast of cool crisp air hit against his skin. “Bane?” Magnus’ whole body turned looking at the side next to the door. It was almost cute watching Alec fidget a little looking almost as nervous as him. Why were they nervous, there wasn’t anything to be nervous about. 

 

It was for a school project,  _ they  _ weren’t a couple even if the rumor going around said otherwise. “Are you ready?” Magnus asked. Alec nodded, clutching onto his backpack and took in a deep breath.

 

“Yes, let’s get going,” said Alec and the two of them walked in silence the whole way to the Lightwood residence. 

 

Alec was feeling kind of awkward and he kept glancing over at Bane as they walked, Magnus doing the same. Magnus hated walking in silence, but he really didn’t know what to say and it looked like Alec was thinking same, because he kept opening his mouth, looking like he was about to say something, but then never did. Lightwood residence wasn’t really that far and when they reached home, no one was home yet. Much to Alec’s luck, because he really didn’t want to be explaining to Izzy what was Bane doing over at their place, especially after all she was very aware of the rumours going on. 

 

Lightwoods had a nice place, the house was pretty big and Magnus kept looking around as Alec let him inside of the house, Magnus following him up the stairs, to his room and Alec opened the door of his room, Magnus politely smiling before stepping inside and he then started looking around. Lightwood’s bedroom was surprisingly clean. There were quite a lot of books in there, posters of famous football players plastered on the walls and Alec threw his backpack onto the floor, feeling flustered that Magnus was in his room.

 

“Um, please, take a seat,” stammered Alec, pointing to the chair next to the desk, where his laptop was on. Magnus nodded, sat down, Alec disappearing to get a chair for himself and he quickly came back, carrying another chair, placing it next to the desk as well. 

 

“Right..so.” Besides dance practice and  _ that  _ time that Alec caused all the rumors to begin. He hadn’t actually been this close to Magnus Bane before. Sure, Alec had worked on lots of projects before with others. So, it wasn’t exactly explaining why  _ this _ one was making his heart feel like it was going to beat outside his chest. “Where in the Greece history we starting?” It had taken him a bit to even say that without stammering over the words, as his mind was not focusing. Alec turned to reach for his book bag that he’d tossed down next to the desk. He needed his history book right? 

 

“Branwell said to describe the entire history on a few pages and then focus on a more specific thing in details,” explained Magnus, because he knew that Alec wasn’t listening before and Alec slowly nodded as he started skimming through his text book. “So, I was thinking,” started Magnus and scooted a bit closer to Alec so that he could see the textbook as well. As he moved close, their shoulders touched and Alec felt his heart beating faster, Magnus’ one speeding up as well, both trying to ignore they didn’t feel that. “So, how about if we focus on Hellenistic art?” proposed Magnus and Alec narrowed his eyes.

 

“Art?” asked Alec and crossed his arms on top of his chest, Magnus looking at him. Great, their bickering was back again, wasn it?

 

“Yes, art,” said Magnus and pressed his lips together. “What’s with that look?” he asked and Alec rolled his eyes. “Well, then fine. What did you have in mind then, genius?” asked Magnus and Alec started turning the pages.

 

“The Spartan education,” proposed Alec and Magnus wrinkled his nose. “No?” asked Alec and rolled his eyes. “How about the Trojan war?” he asked and Magnus groaned again.

 

“But that’s mythology,” groaned Magnus. “And why is it always wars? Let’s focus on something  _ real _ ,” he said and thought for a bit. “Then again, we could talk about mythology. Odyssey and Iliad by Homer,” proposed Magnus. “We could talk a bit about him… Oh maybe not. Maybe we could focus on Greek philosophy and make the project about Aristotle!” said Magnus and Alec rolled his eyes.

 

“No, I want to make a project about Greek’s army,” said Alec.

 

“This isn’t just about what  _ you _ want to do, Lightwood.” Magnus spoke getting sort of annoyed with this. It was the only thing coming out of his mouth. Alec wasn’t wanting to work with him, it was most so against him. Not wanting to comprise with him. Some part of Magnus felt like this had something to do with the  _ rumors _ that were floating around the school. 

 

It was only about five or six weeks into the school year already, which was sort of a shock—if you thought about it. Magnus also know that homecoming was around the corner, because Camille and Verlac were already starting to campaigning. 

 

“I  _ know _ , but I won’t be doing project about some ancient pots,” grumbled Alec under his breath. “Can’t we do something I proposed. Like the Spartan Education. People would be interested in that. Art is  _ boring _ ,” he whined and Magnus rolled his eyes.

 

“It can be mythology or literature,” said Magnus, narrowing his eyes. “Wars and army are stupid and boring. No one wants to know about that,” he said and pressed his lips together. “It’s either art, literature or mythology. I’m not doing other stuff,” he said and wrinkled his nose. Currently, both of them were throwing temper tantrums and with emotions running high, Alec snapped.

 

“No, that’s it. We’re done for today!” he said, on edge because he could hear his father’s voice from downstairs and that pushed him over the edge. Magnus glared at him and he didn’t need to be told twice. He grabbed his backpack, threw his things inside and stood up. Because he was angry, he wasn’t really paying attention and didn’t realise he forgot to take his phone with him.

 

“Fine. You know what, screw you!” said Magnus and quickly stepped out of the room, closing the door with a loud slam on purpose. Magnus muttered to himself, knowing that this would be a bad idea. They could barely make it through dance without some sort of bickering among them. That had only recently cooled down after Magnus helped Alec’s sister. 

 

* * *

Alec silently was cursing himself, knowing they  _ could’ve  _ found some sort of comprise. Yet, here he was having just acted like a total ass again to Bane. It didn’t help that his father was had just got home, too. Who also seemed to be in a great mood. He’d been bitching at the housekeeper/nanny they had for Max. “What do I do now..” Alec ran his hands over his face. 

 

Here he was caring more so about what other people would think, than caring about what his grade would be with Bane. It had been about ten or twenty minutes since Bane had left. “Big Brother?” Followed by a knock before the door opened, it was Iz standing timidly in the doorway. 

 

“Yeah? What?” Sounding more annoyed than he already felt. 

 

“Dad, wants you, and he doesn’t seem please.” The look Iz gave him, was one Alec saw a lot of times when he got into trouble. It was more like ‘what-did- _ you _ -do’ type of look cause it wasn’t often that he got into trouble. 

 

“No idea, probably wants to know why I’m not training.” Alec rolled his eyes at the thought of training with the man. Alec then decided to go downstairs to see why his dad needed him. He really wasn’t in the mood to be dealing with him as well after the fight with Bane, but he knew that it would be easier to go to Robert than to listen to his bitching later on for ignoring him. He then went down the stairs and narrowed his eyes when he saw his father there. “Dad?”

 

“Alec!” snapped Robert, who was beyond pissed. “Why aren’t you at practice?” barked Robert. “And who was that  _ freak _ that just left our house?! I told you, people like him-”

 

“He’s my classmate and we’re working on a project together. You know, school stuff,” said Alec and tried not to roll his eyes too much. “And that’s why I’m not at practice today,” he then added and Robert pressed his lips together.

 

“The word on the street is that you’re attending  _ dance _ classes!” said Robert and Alec arched an eyebrow. 

 

“So what if I am?” snapped Alec back. “It was Coach’s request. Thanks to that my playing has gotten better!!” pointed out Alec and then narrowed his eyes. “Not that you’d know or notice anything about it. I never was and never will be good enough for you,” said the teen and then crossed his arms on top of his chest. “But  _ Coach _ noticed and-”

 

“You’ll quit the dance class!”

 

“No.”

 

“What did you say?!” snapped Robert. “This is my house and as long as you live under  _ my _ roof, you follow my rules,” he said. “I don’t want others thinking that you’re a  _ fairy… _ a fucking fa-”

 

“Shut the fuck up, dad!” said Alec, before Robert could say that word. Alec hated it, made him feel horrible and dirty just thinking it. “This doesn’t concern you.”

 

“Do you want others to think you’re a  _ fag?! _ ” snapped the man. “And that freak that was over before… with make up and glitter. Sickens me. You won’t be doing a project with him. You’ll find another partner for it,” said Robert. “You won’t hang out with him, understood? I won’t have my son hanging out with  _ those _ kind of people, brings shame to-” started Robert and then stopped when he saw that the front door was opened and he saw the teen from before standing there.

 

Magnus had returned to Alec’s house after he hd realised he had forgotten his phone and his eyes were wide when he walked in just in the middle of an argument. Both, Robert and Alec didn’t notice the door opened, Magnus forgetting to knock and the other was shocked when he heard the man’s words. That explained so many things about Alec, too. 

 

Alec stood there a moment his eyes fixated his father’s jugular. The thought of ripping it out, for many reasons seemed like a good idea. Robert was cheating on his mom, which Alec had known that for months now. It made himself hate  _ him _ , like how could you do that. Especially to someone you love and have been with all these years. “ _ YOU _ DON’T  _ get  _ to choose who I do or don’t do my project with!” Alec growled, it was the only way to hide his emotions. It wasn’t as if his father was a teacher anyways, but knowing his father—. 

 

The man would talk to Roger, and then he’d have a new partner. Which likely would be Jace. That wasn’t what Alec wanted, was it? No, of course not! Sure Alec and Bane hadn’t got on earlier, it had mostly been because of Robert being downstairs raving about something. 

 

Watching a father and son  _ bick _ —no this was  _ fighting _ . It brought up memories of his own father—Asmodeus, who was a cruel, cruel man. Not that Magnus had been old enough to have  _ this _ kind of fight. Not that his Mama would ever make him feel like  _ this.  _ Out the corner of Magnus’ eye, he was Isabelle waving him over. Feeling a little frightened to move past those two that were fighting. Watching her mouth ‘ _ come on’  _ it gave him a little encouragement, and he really did need his phone. 

 

With a tighten grip on his bag, he kept his head turned away from the two arguing inside the kitchen. Hearing all this Magnus sort of felt  _ like _ he understood why Lightwood was always so tense.  From the outwards appearance you couldn’t tell that anything was wrong. Alec never let it show, that anything was actually bothering him. He was a teenager, for heaven's sakes. But, no Alec looked far more mature than some their age. Magnus had so many questions rushing along his head. About this, about many things that concerned Alec. 

 

“Hi.” He whispered to Isabelle, who watching her brother and father argue. Seeing her give him a sad smile, “Hi.” Was said back, before pulling him more up the stairs. 

 

“Everything okay?” Isabelle asked turning her gaze from the stairs as she was still listening. 

 

“Yeah, everything’s fine. I just realized I left my phone.” Isabelle nodded, not that any of this wasn’t awkward. Magnus and Isabelle hadn’t spoke to each other since what had happened. 

 

“You can go get it if you want.” She said, laying against the wall hearing Robert and Alec fight. Magnus nodded as he turned to walk towards Alec’s room. 

 

_ “SHAME! You wanna talk about shame—!”  _

 

Magnus’ eyes widened as he exited out of Alec’s bedroom with his phone in tow. His eyes locked sadly on Isabelle still listening at the stairs. “Is it always like this?” Magnus asked quietly, and Isabella eyes said enough, before she nodded. 

 

“I never did thank you about before.” Isabelle stated to say. 

 

But Magnus held his hand up to her asking her to stop, “There’s no thanks needed, sweetheart.” Which cued a sweet little blush from her. “I would do it for anyone, especially if it’s that Morgenstern creep.” He stated, as he watched her shudder. “Morgenstern isn’t still bothering you,  _ is _ he?” The silence spoke enough for him. A rage ran through him, “You know you should tell your brother, or someone  _ like  _ me—when and if he does.” 

 

Isabelle shook her head, “I can’t Magnus. He has enough on him.” Not that Magnus understood what that meant. 

 

What  _ did _ that mean? That Alec had enough on him? Apparently there was something Magnus was missing. It was true that Magnus didn’t know him all that well, and wasn’t going to push the issue with Alec’s sister to find out more. It wasn’t his place. 

 

Before either Isabelle or himself could react there was a rather big crash of glass! Followed by;

 

_ ROBERT!  _

 

Which caused both of them to rush down the stairs. Their eyes both had widened to the scene. Once would assume that in Robert’s rage, the man had thrown one of their mother’s vases. It was right behind Alec, watching their mother rush over to her son’s side. “ _ Alexander _ , are you okay?” Alec from where he stood was standing rather still. A small nod came from  _ Alexander.  _ Magnus always figured that ‘ _ Alec’  _ was short for something. 

 

Letting the shock fade away, “I really should be going, but seriously Isabelle—don’t let that creep bother you again. If you won’t go to your brother, find me okay?” She gave him a nod and he gave a smile back. 

 

As Magnus went to leave again, Alec passed by him obviously shaken somewhat by— _ that _ scene. It had sort of triggered him as well, but he had to stay calm. As calm as one could be with whatever had happened, right? Since Magnus knew how it was, his past experiences with his  _ own _ horrible father had showed him just how fucked up family relationships could be, he decided not to say anything and he just left the house in complete silence.

 

Alec stormed off to his room and closed the door with a loud slam, Isabelle flinching at it and she then looked at her mom for a while, then ran up the stairs. She needed to make sure that Alec was okay. She knocked onto the door and jumped when Alec practically yelled out: “What is it now?!”

 

“Alec, it’s me,” said Isabelle and there was silence on the other side of the door. “May I come inside?” she then asked, holding the door knob and Alec thought about it for a while, then in the end decided to let Izzy in. He needed to talk to her anyway. “Alec!” she tried again and Alec took in a deep breath.

 

“Yeah, you can come inside,” said Alec and Isabelle wasted no time, opened the door and quickly hurried over to Alec’s side, who was sitting on his bed and was looking pissed. He was fuming with anger and he still couldn’t believe that Robert threw a vase at him! What an absolute idiot. And accused him of being the shame to the family when he was the one screwing-

 

“Alec, I heard the fight,” said Isabelle and Alec tensed up again. “What was that all about?”

 

“Just…  _ dad _ being a dickhead,” said Alec through his teeth.

 

“Alec?” asked Isabelle. “There’s more to it than dad just being dad. You two usually have fights like this, but this was different. He never got physical with you before,” she said and placed a hand on top of Alec’s and gave it a little squeeze. “You know you can talk to me about anything, yes?”

 

Alec stayed quiet for a little while and then let out a little sigh. “Dad found out about me attending the dance practice,” said Alec and Isabelle let out a little gasp. So that was probably all that screaming about bringing shame to the family? Izzy knew that Robert was a judgemental prick. “Yeah, it didn’t end pretty,” said Alec and shook his head.

 

“But all of that screaming and yelling about dance practice?” she asked in disbelief.

 

Alec stopped talking and he thought for a little while, because he didn’t know what kind of an answer to give Izzy. She didn’t know about the affair and Alec would like to keep it that way. “How about you, Iz?” he asked, wanting to change the topic of their conversation. Izzy gave him a strange look. “Bane told me about Morgenstern harassing you at the lockers the other day,” said Alec and Izzy looked down.

 

“It’s nothing, Alec. Really,” said Isabelle.

 

“Iz,” said Alec and looked at her. “I know what you’re doing, but by not telling me you’re making me even more worried,” said Alec and Isabelle sighed.

 

“Yeah, I know,” said Isabelle and shrugged. “There’s not a lot to tell, Magnus saved me back there,” she confessed and Alec nodded.

 

“He told me.”

 

“Well, there you go,” said Isabelle and made a short pause. 

 

“Izzy, I know you’re hiding something from me,” said Alec. “That wasn’t the first time it happened, was it?” asked Alec and even though he didn’t get a reply, the look on Isabelle’s face said it all. “My God, Izzy, you need to tell me. If the moron is harrassing you, I’ll-”

 

“Alec, don’t,” said Isabelle. “You’ll only make things worse,” she then said and Alec’s eyes widened. Isabelle was  _ afraid _ of the moron. Izzy was never afraid of anyone, so that told him enough, but for the time being, he decided to let it go, because he could tell that Izzy was uncomfortable. 

 

“Fine, but if he ever does anything ever again, you’ll tell me and I’ll go to the principal,” said Alec and Isabelle gave him a little nod and Alec placed a hand on top of her shoulder. “You okay?” asked Alec then.

 

“Yeah, I’m fine,” said Izzy. “Are you?” 

 

“I will be,” said Alec after a while and gave Izzy a little smile when she pulled him in for a hug, which lasted a few moments and then gave Alec another smile, patting his back. 

 

“So tell me,” said Isabelle. “What was Magnus Bane doing over?” she asked and a little smile spread across Alec’s face as his mood cheered up a little bit as he started explaining about his History project with Magnus, but he could hear their parents fighting downstairs. Isabelle looked pretty disturbed too, so Alec did what he did when they were little when their parents would fight. He went over to his computer, found Isabelle’s favourite song among his playlist and then put it on full blast, so that they didn’t have to listen to their parents, little Max knocking onto the door, because he couldn’t listen to the fighting anymore. Their little brother was on the verge of tears, but Isabelle and Alec were good at cheering the little boy up, Alec turning the music even louder and only after the song muffled the screams from the downstairs, Max cheered up a little bit, Isabelle and Alec pulling him into a group fight.

 

_ They were gonna be okay, as long as they had each other _ .


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heeeey its us once more.. (with feeling(had to go with the pun i was thinking of) haha) 
> 
> but this chapter has a bit of a disclaimer to it..  
> neither one of us know much about football so bare with us a little XD  
> it probably wasnt the best.. but we tried XD
> 
> Anyways if you havent come join the fight on twitter! and help us #saveshadowhunters! We hit 10 million tweets the other day! Weve had a plane and a billboard! This fandom is crazy and we love it! Were so very happy to be apart of it! 
> 
> If you wanna live tweet with us! you can either @ both of us which our handles are @CassiAnime (sly) and @Katyc04090227 (katy) and use out #TOOLBYSK . We'd love to intact with everyone that reads it! If not then comments are just as good! We appreciate everything our readers do! Especially just reading it, but who doesn't enjoy comments once and awhile. 
> 
> Anyways off you go! Read it! and lets #saveshadowhunters!

Magnus was standing at his locker, narrowing his eyes when he saw Camille stomping across the hallway and being pissy as hell. He arched his eyebrow and rolled his eyes. These days, Camille’s bitchiness level was off the charts and Magnus knew why; the upcoming homecoming. Camille was running for the homecoming queen and was a bitch to  _ everyone.  _ Magnus wasn't really surprised as he knew Camille all too well. Though, it boggled his mind; she expected people to vote for her after being a raging bitch to everyone?! Then again, Camille wasn't the brightest bulb out there. She was going to probably bully people into voting for her.

Magnus decided to ignore Camille for the time being, but then there was a loud and horrified scream coming from her direction and Magnus narrowed his eyes, because he didn’t know what was going on exactly. Camille was standing next to one of the posters for her campaign, on which it was her and Sebastian and Magnus decided to take a closer look at it and he snorted when he saw exactly what was the problem. Apparently, someone thought it would be funny to draw devil horns on her and Magnus was silently laughing. Well, the person who drew that had a good sense of humour. Devil horns fitted Camille perfectly as she was the devil herself and he pressed his lips together when Camille started looking around to see who did that.

Camille was beyond pissed, that wasn’t the first poster she found that someone drew  _ that _ on her. She let out a groan and then quickly tore off the poster from the wall, hissing and bitching as she did that. She was so angry that she shred the poster into pieces with her hands and then started looking around. “The one who’s doing this to my posters will pay for it! This is  _ not _ funny,” she hissed and then started looking around, narrowing her eyes when she saw some of the students laughing at her. “If I find out who did this, I swear I’ll make your life a living hell,” she then added and stomped to the next poster, who had the same devil horns on and Magnus started laughing again.

Oh, no this wasn’t funny. This was  _ hilarious.  _ Served Camille right for how she treated people. Acting like she was above everything and everyone. So, she got the taste of her own medicine, not that it was anything serious. She deserved so much more coming her way, but seeing her so pissed would have to do for now and Magnus was immediately in a better mood. He was happily humming to himself as he closed his locker and rubbed his palms together. Oh, it was such a lovely day! If he ever found out who did that to Camille, he was sending them a fruit basket to show his gratitude to them!

When Magnus began walking towards the cafeteria for lunch was just starting. While the entertainment was the best he’d seen in the last few weeks, he couldn’t wait for all to be over. He’d never cared much for homecoming, besides sitting around in Ragnor’s car outside the game. Where they’d gotten pretty drunk they all had to stay at Magnus’ house cause it was the closest walk. Oh how he was missing both of them school year, they talked often enough. It just wasn’t the same, and it was killing Magnus. There was Raphael, but it was Raphael. 

Then there was their odd friendship between Lightwood and himself, Magnus never say himself making friends with any sort of jock actually. What was funny, was Magnus wasn’t sure if you could call being forced upon each other everywhere friends? They had two classes together and both their teachers thought to pair them together for almost everything, and then there was also Shavoone Cat’s mom. She’d forced him to teach Alec dance. So could you say they were friends? Or more acquaintance?

Why was he focusing so hard on trying to figure out what  _ they _ were. They came from two different worlds, Alexander Lightwood was a jock and he was an outcast in the school along with being a dancer. His thoughts has drifted to about a week ago, when they had been assigned the project. One they only had another week on at most, and they hadn’t worked on it since. A bitter laugh escaped Magnus’ lips at the thought. Magnus saw a different side that day too of Alec, to explained a lot of what Alec was always tense.

When his stomach rumbled at him, making him aware that he was hungry. It was when Magnus was almost to the hallway of the cafeteria—where he could smell the food. Which only caused his stomach to rumble again. There was a buzz against his leg, inside of his pocket. Magnus had taken out his phone, his features turned dark as he saw the 911 text from Isabelle Lightwood. Then, another text came in, Izzy telling him to hurry over to the girl’s bathroom and Magnus didn’t really think twice, tucking his phone back into his pocket and hurried over where Izzy told him to meet her.

The hallways were crowded, so none was really paying attention as he went to the girl’s bathroom, where he found Izzy, apparently hiding and Magnus had a good idea from who. “Izzy, are you okay?” asked Magnus, because the girl seemed pretty shaken up, afraid, her face pale and she was nervously biting on her lower lip. Magnus didn’t need to think too long who did this; Morgenstern. “What did he do?”

Magnus could tell her makeup was smeared, his hands were clenched next to his sides. In the last week or so they’d grown closer—he also knew that this wasn’t like her. Especially after a story Alec told him at practice. Which seeing Alec show up that day surprised him, especially after that fight her bore witness too. “Izzy?” He stepped closer to her and she jumped. “Hey..” He stepped back to give her some space. 

“You can’t tell Alec!” First thing she said. Watching her go back to biting her lip, Magnus tried to keep his anger under control. 

“Izzy,” said Magnus as calm as possible. “You have to tell me… what did the bastard do?”

“He, um,” stammered Izzy and made a pause. “Forced a kiss on me,” she said and Magnus’ eyes widened. Oh, he was going to kill the fucking bastard, together with Alec! “He, um… I don’t know. It just happened to fast. One minute I was trying to get rid of him, the other he had me pinned against the wall and was forcing his tongue inside my mouth,” she said and tears welled up in her eyes. Usually she was stronger than this, but something about Jonathan just made her freeze. 

“I’ll kill him.”

“Magnus you can’t tell Alec,” she repeated again.

“Izzy!” said Magnus. “Not only Alec, we need to tell the principal,” said Magnus and shook his head. “I’ll go to her and tell her what the bastard did. This cannot go on,” said Magnus and Izzy started shaking her head. 

“No, you can’—.” Magnus held his hand up to silence her, “Isabelle, this can’t go on!” Stepping closer to her now, wanting nothing more than to pull her into a hug. 

“I’m not saying we tell Alec right now, I’m merely saying we need to go to Grandma Herondale. She needs to be made aware of what’s going on.” Magnus said trying to stay calm, “Okay, how many times this week have you hid from him, before he did this?” Forcing someone was—. Magnus couldn’t even from a thought without seeing the color red and his fist going into Morgenstern’s face. 

“I… almost every day,” she admitted and then swallowed thickly, taking in a deep breath. “I just figured I could handle it on my own,” she added and made a short pause. “But there’s something about him that creeps me out so much and I can’t…  _ move _ when he’s near me,” she said and her lower lip started trembling again, Magnus nodding, because he knew all too well how she felt. He was like that about his own father.

Magnus went closer to her and pulled her in for a tight hug, which took Izzy by surprise, but she returned a quickly hug, sniffling an she mustered a little smile. Magnus returned her a little smile as well and then took in a breath. “Now, let’s make a plan. First, let’s get your face cleaned up,” he said and Izzy nodded once she saw herself in the mirror again. “Then, you’ll go to lunch and I’ll go to Grandma Herondale and tell her  _ everything.  _ Don’t even try to talk me outm of it, because it’s clear that Morgenstern won’t leave you alone,” he said and Izzy slowly nodded, because she also wanted this to be over.

“Okay,” said Isabelle and put on a determined face. She washed her face with running water and then went to her backpack, running through it, searching for the make up bag. “My makeup should be here somewhere,” she said, talking to herself and Magnus decided to help, pulling out his own makeup and Izzy looked at him.

“Come, sweetheart, let me give you a little makeover. Free of charge,” said Magnus and Izzy nodded, her face cheering up a little bit and Magnus gave her a wink when he saw that Isabelle was up for it.  It didn’t take Magnus long to touch up Izzy’s makeup and Izzy was looking flawless again, no sign that anything had happened before, taking in a deep breath when she stepped in front of the mirror again, pushing her hair back and she then nodded.

“I look much better now,” she said and Magnus nodded. 

“Now, go to the cafeteria,” said Magnus and put his things into his backpack. “I’ll go to the principal,” he said and Isabelle nervously smiled, but gave him a little nod.

“Thank you,” said Izzy with a small voice and Magnus shrugged.

“No need to thank me. Now, go, your friends are probably already looking for you,” said Magnus and Izzy nodded, because Alec was probably worrying again and she took her backpack, wished Magnus good luck and then went to the cafeteria, while Magnus went straight to the principal’s office.

When she walked into the cafeteria, her eyes locked with Alec’s mostly because he was staring at the door. Iz was only maybe twenty minutes late into lunch, and knowing that after talking to Magnus—that everyone was worried about her. 

“Where have you been?” Was the first thing Alec said, his voice full with worry. 

Isabelle looked down and shrugged. “With Magnus,” said Izzy, which wasn't really a lie. Alec was bound to find what exactly happened, but she really didn't have the will power nor the wish to be the one to tell Alec what really happened. Magnus went to the principal, so the truth was coming out soon. “We… chatted,” said Izzy and Alec narrowed his eyes. Something felt off, especially with what happened the week before with Morgenstern, but then again, Alec knew that Isabelle and Bane had gotten closer, so in a way he didn't really have a reason to doubt his sister too much.

“Okay.” Alec would try and leave it at that, but if Morgenstern did something else.. Oh, the guy was dead. 

**

Magnus was in the dance studio, stretching, waiting for Alec to come. He wished the jock would come soon, because he had a lot to share with him. He went to the principal and told her what Morgenstern did to Isabelle. However, he was a bit nervous too, because he worried that Lightwood might had been pissed with him for sticking his nose into other people’s business. You never knew with Alec; he was a hard guy to figure out, so Magnus was nervous. But even so, he was glad that he did what he did; Jonathan had it coming and he hoped that now Izzy would finally get some peace and not be constantly on edge. 

Magnus straightened himself up, going onto his legs when Alec stepped into the dance studio and Magnus felt his heart fastening just a little bit. Alec gave him a little smile when he stepped into the room and Magnus smiled back, then slowly made his way to Lightwood and exhaled out deeply. 

“Hey.” Magnus greeted Lightwood with, there was a light smile. He didn’t know exactly how to approach  _ this  _ with him. Without Alec flipping out.

Alec had just came in but his phone had buzzed, it was Iz letting him know that she’d gotten Max that day. That was because technically it was his turn, and with dance practice it would be pushing it to get Max to karate. Mostly because their mom had a trail, and their dad was again out of state. Business trip, Alec rolled his eyes mentally at the thought.

“Earth to Lightwood?” Was what Magnus said this time and it gotten his attention as Alec was looking at him. That made himself more nervous to tell Alec, about what happened. That was because Iz had told him a little about their home life. How both Maryse and Robert—their parents expected so much from Alec. 

“Oh, um, hi,” said Alec when he snapped back from his thinking and placed his bag down, then took in a deep breath. The last time he talked to Magnus was when he was over at his place when they had gotten into an argument over the History project and looking back at it now, it was a very dumb thing to fight over. Maybe just going with what Magnus wanted to do - art or mythology - was better and he was angry at past himself. 

Magnus gave him a nervous laugh and then exhaled, Alec narrowing his eyes when he saw the nervous look on his face, but said nothing. “So, um, we should stretch first,” said Magnus, who was now just rambling, but he really didn't know how to go about this. Just say it? Slowly lead Alec into it?

“Yes, I know,” said Alec and chuckled. “It's not my first practice,” he then added, but could feel the tension lingering around, thinking that it was because of that argument. And the fight with Robert that Magnus witnesses that day. Honestly, he didn't know and he pressed his lips together. “You feeling okay?” asked Alec slowly and Magnus nodded.

“Oh, um, yeah. I'm good,” said Magnus. “So, yeah, let's warm up,” he then added and sat onto the floor, Alec wearing a puzzled expression on his face, but he said nothing as he didn't want to appear too nosy. 

The two of them were warming up in silence as the studio started filling up with other people and Alec tried to think of a way to put an end to this silence. “So,” started Alec and Magnus looked at him. “Izzy said she ran into you today,” he said and Magnus visibly flinched. Did she say something? “I didn't know you two were such good friends,” he added and Magnus averted his gaze.

“Yeah, we're getting along quite fine,” said Magnus and forced on a little smile. “Did she say something to you?” he then added and Alec shook his head.

“Tell me what?” That sent a wave a panic that sent Alec’s blood to run cold.  _ Okay, calm down breathe. _

Alec knew how exactly he got, and it wasn’t for the best. His mind was already in overdrive with what Bane said. What was that supposed to mean? Maybe if he acted calmer, Alec would find out? Would he be okay? After finding out? “She only said she chatted with you.” Something had happened to make her late to lunch  _ again _ . His body tensed back up, “ _ Well?”  _ Alec who had all but abandoned stretching and turned to face Magnus on this. 

“Well,” stammered Magnus and decided to come clean about everything. He hated lying. Especially about something so serious. “Actually… when I was heading to the cafeteria for lunch, Izzy sent me a text, telling me that she was hiding,” said Magnus and Alec stiffened.  _ Hiding from Morgenstern.  _ Alec already knew it, Magnus didn't have to say it. “Morgenstern had been harassing her again. But this time… she said he forced a kiss on her,” said Magnus and was looking down. “She was a mess, so I did what felt doing right. What should be done way sooner before it got out of hand. I went to the principal and reported what Morgenstern did,” said Magnus and looked up to see Alec's reaction. Honestly, he didn't know what to expect.

Alec was shaking with anger when Magnus told him all of that. He was furious with Morgenstern; he should have kicked his ass the first day of school and now he was going to kill the bastard. However, he was also angry with himself, guilt setting in. He should have gone to the principal sooner. And why wouldn't Izzy tell him? Didn't she trust him enough? He looked up at Magnus, but said nothing.

“I'm sorry if it seems like I'm trying to stick my nose up into people's business, but I couldn't let it slide this time,” said Magnus and Alec shook his head.

“No,” said Alec. “You did the right thing,” he said and gritted his teeth.

What Alec couldn’t understand was why Izzy wasn’t coming to him about all this? It never stopped her before. Had Alec done something to make her think she couldn’t trust him with this? He told her just the other day, to stop doing  _ this _ ! That it only made him worry far more. To talk to him! He was her brother! Not that Alec wasn’t eternally grateful for what Magnus did, but the fact that it should’ve been  _ him _ doing it. 

Had this been because of the fight that Alec had with their father? The added pressure—that Is thought he was under. It wasn’t just their father but their mother too. They wanted him to be perfect, to follow what they said without question—and normally Alec did. 

“Are you okay?” 

Alec looked up at Magnus, “Yeah, I’m fine.” Was how Alec responded.

“Because you’re crying.” 

In disbelief Alec touched his hand to his cheek. Sure enough Alec was indeed crying, but why? Were they out of anger, frustration—overwhelmed by too many things? “So I am.” He laughed bowing his head, why was he always finding out this way? He wasn’t mad at Iz, but it made him wonder if she actually trusted him. 

Magnus could only imagine what was going on inside of Alec’s mind. Worried over his sister, maybe feeling betrayed that his sister came to Magnus instead of her brother, maybe even blaming himself. Who knew and the two of them sat like that in silence, Magnus’ heart twisting when he watched how Alec tried to get his emotions under control. But the harder he tried, the worse it got, Alec angrily groaning as he looked up, wiping the tears that wouldn’t stop falling and Magnus felt the urge to hug the other teen. But, he stopped himself at the moment as he knew that Alec wasn’t comfortable with people touching him.

“Ugh, this is so,” said Alec, his voice trailing off. He felt horrible, he just wanted to go home, not in the mood to be at the practice, especially not in front of the other people, feeling curious eyes on him and he looked down when he saw that more and more people were  _ staring _ at him. “I-” stammered Alec and Magnus bit onto his lower lip. “Toilet, I need to go to the bathroom,” said Alec, stood up and then literally ran to the bathroom just outside the studio and Magnus was right behind him. He couldn’t leave Lightwood alone like this, not after all that had happened. He knew that Alec had a lot on his mind and Magnus found Alec bent over the sink, flushing his face with cold water, trying to get it together. But he couldn’t, thinking of Izzy and that  _ freak _ doing that to her, he just lost it.

“Alec,” said Magnus, but Alec didn’t even register him being in there as he was so lost in his worries, blaming all of this on his own and Magnus bit onto his lower lip, sighing and he stepped closer to Alec, but kept his silence. “Alec, are you okay?” he tried again, Alec’s fingers gripping onto the sink, knuckles white to the bone and he clenched his jaw. “Alexander,” tried Magnus again, Alec flinching when Magnus said his full name and he looked at him. “You need to calm down. I told the principal, she’ll handle this. Morgenstern will get suspended,” said Magnus and Alec nodded. Yes, that was good, of course it was. But that wasn’t the point. There was still the question;  _ why? _ Why didn’t Izzy tell him?! After he told her to come to him!

“Why?” stammered Alec and Magnus frowned. “Why did she come to you and not to me?” asked Alec. His tone of voice wasn’t accusing Magnus, no. There was deep sadness in his voice, desperation and frustration. Magnus could understand that too, he’d feel the same way. He  _ felt _ the same way when his Mama didn’t tell him what his father was doing to her. “I  _ told _ her to come to me,” he then added and bit into his lower lip.  _ Did I do something wrong?  _ was the question he wanted to ask, but didn’t. However, Magnus  _ knew _ what was on Alec’s mind. 

“You didn’t do anything wrong,” said Magnus and Alec looked at him. “She didn’t tell you because she cares for you too much,” he added and Alec frowned. Well, that didn’t make sense. “Sometimes it’s easier to tell someone who isn’t as close to you,” said Magnus. “That’s why she came to me and not to you. She knew how it’d affect you.”

“I...” stammered Alec, but his voice trailed off. Magnus’ words made sense, in a way, but that still didn’t change the fact that he felt horrible. “It’s just… so frustrating,” he then added and puffed his cheeks, rubbing his red and puffy eyes and exhaled deeply. “I’m sorry, I’m a mess,” he then added and Magnus made a step closer.

“Don’t apologise,” said Magnus and shook his head. “It’s okay to cry.”

“Yeah, right,” said Alec and forced out a laugh. “It’s a sign of weakness,” he said and then looked down. Magnus was about to ask if that was what Robert had taught him, but then Alec interrupted him. “Thank you,” said Alec. “For looking after Izzy. And for telling the principal,” he said and Magus shook his head.

“No need to thank me,” said Magnus with a smile. “Just a friend, looking out for another friend,” said Magnus and Alec nodded, then looked down and he wore a troubled expression on his face. 

Magnus huffed under his breath. His entire being was yelling at him to go hug Alec and in the end, he decided to go for it, Alec needed a hug. So, he slowly stepped closer to him even more and Alec looked up, his eyes wide when Magnus slowly wrapped his arms around him and pulled him in for a hug. Alec stiffened when he felt Magnus gently tapping his back and he just awkwardly stood there, slowly draping his arms around Magnus as well and closed his eyes for a split second, enjoying how it felt being pressed against Magnus. It was like their bodies  _ fit _ together, his heart making a jump at that thought and he quickly pushed Magnus away, face red and he then looked down, feeling awkward as hell.

Alec felt like he was holding his breathe in that moment after having pushed back against Magnus. His eyes locked to the ground, even though they were drifting upward to look at Magnus. He didn’t push Bane away, in a mean way.. Which Alec was hoping that he understood that. Besides his siblings and maybe his mother.. Hugs weren’t something you got a lot of in his family. “We should probably get back.” He said breathlessly. Because they still had practice and he didn’t want to anger Madam Loss. 

“Right.” Magnus nodded, still sort of worried about Alec. When had that happened? Caring so much for this jock? Magnus shook away his thoughts as he followed behind Lightwood back into the studio. 

**

“Alec, Alec, come on, let’s get going!” whined Max, holding his brother’s hand, trying to drag him out of the house and was jumping up and down, beyond excited to leave the house. It was Halloween and Alec was going to take him trick or treating. He was dressed up as his favourite manga character that he loved to read in his spare time; Naruto and he was so excited to show off his cool outfit to the rest of the kids. 

“Calm down, Maxie,” said Alec, chuckling when he saw how excited Max was and he then patted his brother’s hair, which was all spiked up now and he let out a shriek.

“Alec, you’ll mess up my hair!” whined Max and quickly ducked his head before Alec could do any more damage to his costume. Alec tried not to laugh and he then only nodded, but said nothing and allowed Max to drag him out of the house. “Mom, we’re off,” yelled out Alec and after he said his goodbyes to Maryse, the two of them were off. That Halloween, it was only Max and Alec as Izzy was spending time with Simon and Jace was God knows where. 

Actually knowing Jace he was probably trying to get Clary to go on an actual date with him. Clary had heard  _ and _ seen Jace’s reputation first hand—and because of that Jace was again struggling in Chemistry. It was so sad, yet so funny for Alec to watch. “Alec!!” Maxie was all excited, mostly excited about the customs he’d spent a lot of time making with Izzy’s help. “I’m coming, just sloww down!” Alec chuckled at Max as he was bouncing ready for the trick or treating to start.

Max and him were gonna got up their neighbourhood and possibly the next couple. Theirs wasn’t huge, but they usually gave out some good candy. There was still about ten to fifteen more minutes before it began, but Max was excited. 

Surprisingly enough the time passed quickly and Max all but sprinted to the first house. “Oi! Slow down!” Alec called after him, as there were still cars driving around, and it was mischief night as well. Crazy teens that were up to no good, and was thankful Izzy was with Simon at some gig. Because somewhere into the distance Alec thought he’d saw Jonathan in his neighbourhood and it didn’t sit well with him. 

Alec looked to the direction he thought he saw Jonathan before, but because he couldn’t see him, he guessed he was only seeing things. Why would Morgenstern be in their neighbourhood? It was ridiculous, it was just his paranoid mind playing tricks on him. Because of that, Alec decided to give his attention to Max again, who was skipping down the sidewalk, Alec smiling as he walked a bit faster to catch up to Max and the trick or treating began.

After they were done with their neighbourhood, they went to the next one and Max couldn’t stop looking inside of his bag. It was already half full! Oh, that was going to be the best Halloween ever! “Alec, look, look!” said Max, opened up the bag and proudly showed it to Alec. “Look how many candies I already have,” cheered the boy and Alec gave him a little smile.

“Of course,” said Alec and winked. “You’re cute as a button, of course people-”

“Alec, I am not cute!” whined Max and his cheeks reddened. “I am  _ cool _ . I am a  _ ninja _ . Ninjas aren’t cute, they are cool and dangerous,” stated Max and Alec only laughed as they crossed the street, Max happily skipping before Alec, who was slowly walking after him, but then stopped because he saw Jonathan  _ and _ Sebastian coming his way, Max not noticing him as he was currently busy with receiving the candy and in a way, Alec was happy that Maxie wasn’t there to witness  _ this _ , whatever was going to happen. Alec felt shivers running up his spine when he saw a  _ grin _ on Morgenstern’s face. So, he was right before! Was the fucker  _ stalking _ him now?!

“Lightwood!” barked Jonathan, who wasn’t grinning anymore and Alec’s face darkened as he tried his best to keep his anger under control.

Alec inclined his head in their direction, his anger for Jonathan almost bettering him. Whatever happened here, Alec didn’t want Max to see it. 

“Where's your sister at?” asked Morgenstern and Alec felt anger rising again. He was going to smack the son of a bitch. “I'll take her trick or treating, give her a sweet-”

“Shut the fuck up, Morgenstern!” That’s when Alec’s temper started to get the better of him. He hadn’t had to see Jonathan’s face in the last week, mostly because he’d been suspended. In that week Izzy had livened up more, without that bastard around. Today was also Morgenstern’s last day of suspension, as it was Friday. Monday he’d be back, and all be damned was Alec gonna let this scumbag near his sister again! 

“Oh testy!” Verlac took his turn to speak up, “I think someone needs  _ laid _ themselves, don’t you Jonathan?” A dark chuckle came out of his partner and Alec skin crawled. “Were you out visiting  _ your _ boyfriend?” Was also asked, and Alec fist grew tighter at his side. 

**

Max was happily walking down the sidewalk, happily going from door to door. He looked over his shoulder and narrowed his eyes when he couldn't see Alec near. However, his brother wasn't too far away and Max saw Alec talking to two teens, guessing they were his friends. He didn't want to interrupt, so he just decided to go to the next few houses alone. Alec wasn't that far away anyway, so he guessed it was okay for him to go by himself. He looked inside of his bag again and then started happily grinning. Oh, he had so much yummy candy! 

He couldn’t wait to get home and start eating some of it. That was if mom would let him, but he’d probably go against her and sneak a bunch to his room. It was something he did nearly every year anyways. This year wasn’t going to be any different. 

Max ran up to the last house on the neighborhood and quickly stepped closer, ringing the doorbell and hoped that this house gave out good candy as well. The door soon opened and Max put on the biggest smile ever. “Trick or treat?!” he said happily and a trio was standing in front of him. A girl and two guys. The girl was wearing a cat costume, one of the guys was wearing a costume that resembled a frog and the other one was dressed up as a…. Vampire? 

“And who might you be as?” Magnus grinned, Halloween was one of his favorite time of the year. He didn’t get quite as much crap fro his clothing choices, or his makeup. So of course it was one of the times of the year that he enjoyed the most. “Naruto! Duh!” Max grinned, Magnus smiling when he saw the excitement on the boy’s face. But, Magnus was also in a very good mood because his two best friends were finally in town.

“Yeah, Magnus, Naruto…  _ duh _ !” said Ragnor, who was looking rather annoyed. He  _ hated _ his costume, but he lost a bet with Magnus and he had to wear it. It was a bad joke and he hated himself for agreeing to the bet in the first place. Max nodded when the  _ frog _ spoke up and he then showed his bag to the trio, putting on his most precious look he could muster.

“Candy!”

“Here you go, you hungry ninja,” said Catarina and gave Max a bunch of candy into his bag and he almost started bouncing up and down from happiness when he saw that the Frog and the Vampire had more candy on their hands.

“Really?” Max grinned at them both, like  _ wow _ , was his costume that good! Or did they know the  _ manga  _ or the  _ anime.  _ Still this was amazing from these three! Alec was not gonna believe this! Not that he got three handfuls of candy from one house! “Thank you! Happy Halloween!” He held out the bag for them both to put the candy in. This year was amazing! He never got this much before! 

Excited as he was he hadn’t even noticed that Alec still hadn’t exactly caught up with him. “Alec! Did you see!” He started bouncing thinking that Alec was just up ahead waiting on him at street. As Max was busy looking inside of the bag for something to snack on. “Alec?!” Max looked around cause no one said anything, and that’s what made Max notice Alec wasn’t there. “Alec?” He said again feeling a little worried now, where was Alec? 

Magnus perked up when the other said that name. Alec? Alec Lightwood? Magnus narrowed his eyes and he took a closer look at the little one. He  _ kinda _ resembled Alec  _ Lightwood _ so maybe a sibling? Magnus didn’t know, but the boy looked rather upset as he couldn’t find Alec, looking around again and he chewed on his lower lip. “Hey, little ninja?” asked Magnus and Max perked up. “Is there a problem?” he asked.

“I can’t find my brother,” said Max. 

“Where have you last seen your brother?” asked Magnus and Max pointed to the end of the street.

“He was there just a minute ago,” said Max and shrugged. 

“Well, don’t worry,” said Magnus and smiled. “If he was there just a minute ago, he can’t be very far. Come on, I’ll help you find him, okay?” asked Magnus and Max looked up at him. He slowly nodded and he was happy that he decided to help him out. “You two, wait for me here, I’ll be right back in a second,” said Magnus, Cat and Ragnor nodding and Magnus then made his way out of the house and slowly walked with Max, who was looking very nervous. “We’ll find your brother in no time. By the way, I’m Magnus,” said Magnus, hoping that it would make the little one feel better and Max relaxed. A bit.

“Max,” said the little ninja and Magnus gave him a little smile.

 

**

Alec was struggling with the sudden urge to kill someone, but also, he was looking around and was quite worried when he couldn’t see Max anymore. He was there just there a minute ago and now he wasn’t. If Alec lost his brother because of these two idiots, then well they’d paid.

“Look this has been fun and all, but I have to find my little brother.” Alec spoke trying to keep his temper in check. Not that Alec was sure how well that was gonna go, as Jonathan grabbed his shoulder. “Oh, no we aren’t  _ done  _ here.” Which caused Alec to jerk his shoulder away from Morgenstern. “First off, Morgenstern there’s this thing called personal space. Something you need to learn.” Alec bit back a growl at the idiot. He disliked a lot of people touching him, especially when Alec didn’t invite it. 

“Secondly, I’m going to find my brother!” He exclaimed, because Jonathan Morgenstern and Sebastian Verlac weren’t gonna keep him from that. 

“Oh, no, no, no,” said Jonathan, his voice low. “I told Isabelle not to tell  _ anyone _ , so there will be consequences for you and your little sister,” said Morgenstern and Alec felt shivers run up his spine. “The bitch told on me and you went straight to the principal, you fucking coward,” he then added and Alec felt shivers run up his spine. The look on Morgenstern’s face was  _ mad _ as he grabbed Alec’s shoulder again and Alec was just about to seriously beat the shit out of him, someone called Alec’s name.

“Alec!” said Max happily when he finally saw his brother and Magnus narrowed his eyes. So he was right, Max was Alec’s little brother. However, he was also worried when he saw the two morons from school standing close to Alec, Morgenstern grabbing Alec’s shoulder and that pissed Magnus off.

“Max,” said Alec and then looked up, frowning when he saw Magnus there as well. “Magnus?” he asked, dumbfounded and his anger ignited again when Sebastian whistled. 

“Told ya Jonathan! Our guy here was looking for his  _ boyfriend. _ ” Sebastian whistled again, and almost all the color drained from Alec’s face. Not that cared about Sebastian’s teasing, but the fact Max was there. How was Alec going to explain that to Max, and how was Alec going to get Max not to say anything about the word  _ boyfriend _ to mom. 

Max looked over to Alec and frowned.  _ Boyfriend? _ The vampire… Magnus was Alec's boyfriend? Before Max was able to ask what was going on, Magnus decided to make the idiots shut up. “I see you two didn't bring your cavemen costumes, huh. You should, it would fit you both just right,” said Magnus and then grinned when he saw that his comment pissed both idiots off.

“Shut the f-”

“Let it go, Jonathan,” said Sebastian and rolled his eyes. “We'll take care of this at school,” he then said and made a fist with his hand.

“Yeah, don't forget what I said, Lightwood,” said Morgenstern and Alec flinched, but much to his luck, the two idiots made their way away from them and Alec visibly exhaled, but was still shocked about the whole thing. He didn't worry too much about Jonathan's worries, what worried him was that Max had heard them saying Magnus was his  _ boyfriend. _ Alec went into panic mode, but then snapped out of it when Magnus stepped closer to him and gave him a concerned look. 

“Alec, you okay?” asked Magnus and Alec slowly nodded. “What did they want this time?”

“They, um… noting. Just. Yeah. Nothing,” stammered Alec and then looked at Max, who looked pretty shocked about the entire thing. So those guys s weren't Alec's friends! “What are you doing here?” asked Alec then, because he was surprised to see Magnus there.

“I live here,” said Magnus and decided to let it go, because it was obvious that Alec didn't want to talk about it. “Well, just around the corner,” he said and huffed under his breath. “This little ninja came to my house,” said Magnus and grinned when he looked at Max. “And couldn't find you, so I helped him with the mission of finding his lost brother,” said Magnus and Max grinned. Magnus wanted to release the tension and he smiled when he saw a tiny smile appearing on  Alec’s lips, Magnus’ heart making a jump when he witnessed that smile and he looked down.

“Thank you so much,” said Alec quickly. “For helping Max out,” he then quickly added and when Magnus flashed him one of his brightest smiles, Alec flushed up to his ears and he quickly looked down. Okay, seriously, what was up with him? Flushing when he would talk to Magnus, having inappropriate thoughts about him, he did  _ that _ while thinking of Magnus… But he couldn’t be  _ gay _ , he had a girlfriend before. Lydia. So, maybe he was bisexual? Alec was snapped back to reality when he felt Max tugging onto his hand and Alec looked down. “Huh?”

“Look at how much candy I got!” said Max happily and showed his full bag of candy to Alec and the other smiled and ruffled Max’s hair.

“Oh, good job, Maxie!” said Alec with such a bright smile that it made Magnus’ heart melt and he cursed.  _ Shit, he was already falling for this guy again, wasn’t he? _ And he was straight, probably. He had a girlfriend, so Magnus just assumed. And he was a jock. He rolled his eyes and then smiled again when Alec looked back up at him. “Well, um, we should really get going,” said Alec and Magnus nodded.

“Yeah, of course, I need to get back to my friends as well,” said Magnus quickly.

“Yeah,” said Alec and huffed. “Well, um, see you in school on Monday,” he then added and Magnus said his goodbyes to them and then returned back to the house, Alec still on his mind. 

**

They were in the midst of the homecoming parade, something that Alec wasn’t all that fond of. Especially with as cold as it was, and it was still early November. Alec could remember a time that Izzy, Jace and himself stood down below them. Catching and collecting the candy tossed near them. That had always been fun, hadn’t it? This evening’s weather was brisk, and caused Alec to shiver. Sitting on the side of the firetruck up next to Jace in their jerseys. It was cold, the temperature couldn’t more than the lower 50s. 

The smiles of the kids watching them, like they were some type of hero’s. They weren’t heroes, just teenagers. Older versions of themselves—as Alec thought of thinking he thought the same once. “Dude, you know that’s for the kids right?” Alec leaned close enough for Jace to hear him. As the sirens of the police and fire trucks blazed. Jace just shrugged and went back to tossing and sucking on his sucker. 

Alec was counting heads, because he could tell the whole team wasn’t on the truck. Who was missing? There were only two people missing from what he could tell. It was the who—that Alec was having trouble with. Everyone was there weren’t they? Maybe more than two, but who? He knew that Sebastian was riding with Camille as they’d campaign together for homecoming king and queen. But where was...Morgenstern. 

A shiver ran over Alec and it wasn’t because he was cold that time.. Ever since last Friday—Halloween. He’d been on edge and everyone asked him what was wrong. Between Verlac calling Magnus his  _ boyfriend _ , in front of his little brother. But what shook Alec was the fact before that Morgenstern had threatened her and his sister. Maybe not in so many words, but Morgenstern said something was coming.. But what?

That  _ what _ , was what had Alec on edge. He snapped at almost everyone all week.. Well besides maybe Magnus and Max. Everyone had been bitten by Alec’s snark. They all had also asked him why he was so on edge. Alec’s answer what about the game, because Alec hasn’t let anyone else know about what happened. 

He was  _ overthinking _ whatever—Morgenstern could have meant. 

It was just an empty treat and nothing would come of it.  _ Yup _ ,  _ nothing. Probably.  _ Morgenstern was just trying to get to him; he wanted to get into his head, so that he would somehow fuck up this game. And what was even worse was that he was succeeding. He was  _ letting _ Jonathan get to him and he gritted his teeth. He needed to forget about the idiot and focus on the game. He knew that if he would somehow mess up the game then Robert would never stop breathing down his neck. 

“Dude, you feeling alright?” asked Jace when Alec got suddenly very quiet and Alec snapped out of it, nodding.

“Yeah, um, I'm fine. Just. Nervous, you know,” said Alec and Jace narrowed his eyes. Getting nervous wasn't like Alec, but then again Alec was acting… strange lately. Always on edge and snapping at people for every single thing.

**

Magnus was sitting among the crowd, sitting next to Catarina and Ragnor as they were watching the Parade. He didn't even know why he agreed to come in the first place; he hated it. Plus, he was freezing his ass off. He looked over at his two friends, who were enjoying themselves and he rolled his eyes.

“Ugh, this is so boring,” whined Magnus. “I don't know why I even agreed to come here in the first place,” he added and crossed his arms on top of his chest. “This sucks.”

Catarina laughed. “To watch the jocks strut around the field. A little eye candy never hurts,” she said with a wink and Magnus rolled his eyes again. Well, he would get the chance to see Alec play and that made his bad mood disappear a little bit.

“I guess..  _ not _ that any are really eye candy.” He shrugged, what was he saying. Alec was… At least he thought Alec was.. Right? Alec was easy on the eyes.

“Oh really that’s not what I  _ heard. _ ” Magnus arched an eyebrow at Cat. However, he didn’t really ask any questions as he wasn’t in the mood at all and he then squeezed his jacket tighter around himself. Ugh, it was so freaking cold and he then sneezed, looking to his side and he saw that he wasn’t the only one cold.

“Feeling cold?” asked Ragnor, who was now talking to Catarina and she nodded, Ragnor wrapping his own jacket around Cat, who grinned and happily moved closer to the other, cupped his face and gave him a quick peck on top of his lips, Magnus’ jaw dropping when he saw that. Wait, what? What was going? When did  _ that _ happen? And why didn’t anyone tell  _ him _ about it?

Magnus was a little confused, and frankly sorta hurt. Here was his two best friends, his  _ closest _ friends. They’d spoken several times over the course of the last few months. Neither one had said a word, so was this new? Because in the last week since Halloween, neither said anything then either.. So what was going on?

“You coming?” Cat called out to him, as they both looked back at him. The parade had ended, and that meant that the game would soon start. Where had things changed? Magnus was feeling a bit lonely and like a third wheel with them now. Never had it felt like they before, never. But now, watching how close the two of them was walking had Magnus feeling a little jealous. With a sigh, “Yeah! Coming.” He walked pretty fast, because Magnus Bane didn’t run. 

This time last year they all had been drinking whiskey or vodka that Ragnor swiped from his parents liquor cabinet. The pang of loneliness creep in, and wanted to swallow Magnus whole. They were still including him, but why hadn’t they told him? So many questions were running inside his head, about it. But then he just kept quiet and said nothing as he looked over to his two best friends that were apparently a couple now and sighed.

**

Theodore Underhill was walking towards the locker room as Alec had told him to go get Verlac and Morgenstern as they weren't with the rest of the team. Theo himself didn't really like the two idiots himself, but he respected Lightwood so he agreed to go get them. He found them in the locker rooms indeed, but apparently they weren't alone, because he could hear them talking to someone and he narrowed his eyes when he overheard some parts of the conversation.

“We’ll move in on him when he'll last expect it,” said Jonathan and Theodore pressed his lips together. He didn't know who they were talking about, but Theo knew that what they were planning was anything but innocent. And not only because he could sense the  _ coldness _ of his voice, but he knew them well enough to know that it was always bad news with him. Morgenstern creeped the hell out of Underhill and paired up with Verlac by his side… meant trouble for sure.

“That's when you come in,” said Sebastian and Jonathan started laughing. “You will keep him distracted long enough for the two of us to make our move.”

“Wouldn't it be just easier if I-”

“No,  _ I _ need to be the one,” said Jonathan, chills running down Underhill's spine. They were setting up a trap for someone and when Theo took another look, he saw that they were talking to a player from the team they were playing up against that day. It looked like Jonathan knew him personally because they were quite chummy with each other. As Theo moved, the trio looked to his direction.

“Who's there?” asked Sebastian.

Underhill took in a deep breath and stepped closer. “Just me. Lightwood, um, sent me… he needs you out there,” said Theo and the trio eyed each other and grins appeared on their faces.

**

Not everyone was surprised as much as Alec was that they were currently leading against Idris High. It was only by three points, but they were ending the second quarter with a lead. The game had been tight for the most part, but after the last touchdown, and their kick had been good. It had them with a three point lead. It was shocking how hardly any of the team got along, and here they were scoring with plays that hadn’t worked in the past. It had him tense now, because Verlac and Morgenstern were listening, to him and that never happened..

It was halftime on homecoming. Which that mean that the archway would be out on the field. It also signaled for those that ran for homecoming court to get onto the field. Which that meant Verlac with Camille and Mark with Aline—they had ran against each other and  _ god  _ how Alec hoped Aline won over the  _ bitch.  _

Alec's prayers were soon heard, because Aline was named as the Queen and he tried not to laugh at Camille when she started throwing a hissy fit. It served her right!

**

With halftime over and the game resuming now long after the crowning of King and Queen. Alec was in high spirits, as Aline won over Camille. It’s what happens when you act like a complete bitch all of the time. Especially to those that were the ones voting. Camille had been nothing but a bitch during the campaign time.. Plus whoever made her look like a shedevil on her posters well,  _ that  _ was priceless. 

The hissy fit she thrown a few moments ago, almost rivaled that one in the cafeatrina that day. That had also been the day that Magnus went to the principal over what Morgenstern had been doing to Izzy, and what he’d done. His thoughts had drifted again to Halloween, and when Morgenstern had threatened him. Tonight Alec was trying to do anything but worry about that, but something was screaming at Alec.

A  _ bad _ feeling..

They were winning the game, and acting more like a team than they had all season. Where was this bad feeling coming from, it was just as Herondale snapped the ball back to him and Alec took a small jog backwards. “Morgenstern, what are you doing?!” Alec said kind of confused, why hadn’t he moved? What was going on? It caused him to toss the ball to Underhill, because Alec was being rushed by another player at the same time just as Morgenstern moved in that split second.

No one saw Jonathan use his knee to make Alec’s buckle, but Alec felt it.. as he also felt the tackle.

The referee was calling for a time out, and both Coaches ran out onto the field.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hola!! We back! Katy and I <3
> 
> With a finished chapter!  
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> You’ll find out soon enough!
> 
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> Thanks for reading my ramble!  
> Now on to the story

“TIMEOUT!!” Was what the referee called out, as they too rushed over to check on the player that was laying there. 

“Lightwood, you okay?” It was Morgenstern, who was trying to hide a smirk as he spoke. From what Underhill could see. It wasn’t long after that had the two coach’s ran over to check on their players. 

“Lightwood?” Alec’s eyes shot open at Coach Garroway, but it hurt to move. “Wayland, get one of the medics!” Garroway could tell the shock was all over all his teams faces. They had been getting along this whole game, they were in the lead for heaven's sakes. How had this happened? Luke was confused, but accidents happen. 

“Can you get up?” Alec shook his head and hissed our as he tried to move his leg. “Lay still, you'll only aggravating the injury.” This was his senior year! This wasn’t how homecoming was suppose to go, he was suppose to finish out the season. They still had this game, and two others. But his football career was over now, at least as a high school student. That much Alec knew just laying there. He’d seen other’s get injured, and they never return back to the game. The only hope that Alec could have was that, he hadn’t broken his leg. 

Alec was only happy that his father was on a “business” trip, because he really wasn't in the mood to be dealing with him at the moment a well. Because he knew his father would make all of this his own fault. He wasn't paying attention enough or whatever. His father always found  _ something  _ to blame him for and his stomach dropped because he knew he would have to deal with him eventually. Imagine if they lost the game… Then what? Alec knew he would never hear the end of it.

Alec was snapped back to reality when he heard someone calling his name. It was Jace, who was already back and was now kneeling by his side as he was trying to make sure Alec was okay. “Alec,” stammered Jace. “Everything will be okay. You, um, just tripped. Yeah. Help is on the way, you'll be fine.”

Alec's head was spinning as he was trying to collect himself a bit. Not that it was working as slowly panic started setting in and he bit into his lower lip. All that he could focus on was how upset Robert was going to be and that he was convinced his football career was over. 

“Dad will be so mad at me,” was all that Alec said and Jace shook his head. He couldn't believe it.  _ That _ was what worried Alec the most? Then again, that shouldn't come as a surprise, because Robert was always pushing Alec too much and Jace was going to  _ smack _ the man if he would accuse Alec of something like that.

“Don't think about that,” said Jace and gripped Alec's shoulder. “Besides, you're gonna be okay. Do you hear me?” he asked and while Alec nodded, he wasn't so sure that would be the case. Luck was rarely on his side.

**

Magnus was so _ done.  _ He was happy that his friends found each other and they seemed happy, but Magnus was just so annoyed. He didn't mind Catarina and Ragnor being a couple, but it was annoying the hell out of him how they didn't tell him they got together. Plus, they were just ignoring him and seeing them being all lovey-dovey made him even more annoyed. So, because of that he left to get a drink. Or whatever.

So, there he was, walking around with a drink in his hands and was just sighing. That was until he saw Izzy and the little ninja from the other on his way back. “Come on Max, stop whining. I get your cold. I am too, but we’re here to support Alec and Jace.” Izzy spoke feeling more defeated, with Max at the moment. Simon had went to get the three of them some hot chocolate, but Max was still whining. 

“Ninja’s shouldn’t be whining.” An eyebrow raised as Magnus looked at Max with a grin. 

“Oh, hey!” Izzy said with a small smile. Being out with Max with this much going on, it was tiresome. “Oh you know Max from Halloween.” As his comment just clicked with her. Max had already worn her out between the parade, him jumped up on sugar from the candy he got at the parade, and now his whining about being cold. 

“Yes, we’ve already met,” said Magnus with a smile on his face and leaned down a bit, so that he was closer to Max. “You’re not giving your sister a hard time, are you? That’s the first code of being a ninja; respect your elders, especially your family members,” teased Magnus and Max perked up at that, but he then rolled his eyes.

“But I’m  _ cold _ ,” whined the boy and huffed under his breath. “And football is  _ boring. _ ”

“I know, right?” asked Magnus and Max grinned when he finally had someone on his side.  _ Finally _ , someone agreed that football was boring. Sure, he supported Alec, but the game was super boring. And it was cold. He would be much rather wrapped up in a blanket, in his own room and read his favourite manga than to be stuck out there. “But,” said Magnus. “Sometimes being a ninja means making sacrifices,” said Magnus and Max started thinking about it. Well, that made sense. The characters in his manga made a lot of sacrifices for the people they loved. 

“Sorry, Izzy!” Max understood, at least he tried to understand. “It’s alright Max.” She smiled, but looking grateful to Magnus. He just keep saving her much like Alec would, and Max would only ever really listen to Alec. Well, besides their parents—and sometimes Max didn’t then either. 

“Okay! One hot chocolate for the my lady!” Simon said as he made his way over to Izzy, “And did you see where the shrimp when?!” Simon was teasing Max, “I’m right here!” Max stomped and gave Simon a look. “Oh there he is!” He laughed, “No hard feelings, right Max I couldn’t see you.” He whisked. “Uh huh, thank you tho.” Max had rolled his eyes. 

“Oh hey Magnus! Didn’t see you either..” Simon shrugged, “Enjoying the game?” 

Magnus just looked at  _ Sheldon,  _ like  _ really _ ? 

“I’ll take that as a  _ no _ then.” Simon casually just rolled his eyes playfully. 

“ _ Yesss _ !!” Was what some random person said standing up near the fence. 

They all had looked up towards the field. It had been when Simon had brought back the hot chocolate that Magnus realized _ someone _ had scored. None of them knew who it was, but saw Underhill kick a field goal. “That’s three more points for us!” Simon was grinning at the three of them, and they all kind of just nodded at  _ Sherry.  _

Magnus looked at the scoreboard, which it was 7 to 13. There wasn’t much of a point lead. As everyone would think there should or would be.

“Oh goodie! Look it’s halftime!” Magnus was the most excited for it. Because it would be  _ over  _ with and then he could go home. It was only right to stay until halftime. It was what most of these people were here for, anyways. 

_ “LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, CAN THE HOMECOMING COURTS MAKE THEIR WAY TO THE FIELD.” _

Magnus rolled his eyes, watching next to Simon, Isabelle and Max. A slight shiver ran over him as the breeze blew. His eyes had shifted towards the bleachers, where he could vaguely see Ragnor and Cat. Who were still cozied up together. Magnus was feeling slightly bitter, because _they_ hadn’t even told him. _HIM_! And he was their best friend. Or was he still? They hadn’t had a bunch of contact with each other, and Halloween had been a bit tense. 

“Who do you think will win, Magnus?” Was a question Isabelle said, because Simon and Max didn’t care. Max sure as hell didn’t, he was ready to go home. 

Magnus hasn’t exactly heard what was asked, besides his name. “Anyone but  _ Camille _ .” He rolled his eyes. Izzy grinned and then nodded, because she knew that Camille broke Magnus’ heart and that he couldn’t stand her now. He had told her how she treated him when they were together and Isabelle held a great dislike for the other as well. But also, she disliked her in general for how she treated other people. Like they were  _ toys _ .

“I’m sure Camille won’t win,” said Isabelle and shook her head. “It would take a miracle really. Remember the devil horns someone drew on her posters?” she asked and Magnus grinned. Oh yeah, that was genius, he still wanted to know who drew that and congratulate them. Oh, imagine what kind of a reaction Magnus would get if Camille didn’t win. Just in case, he took out his phone when Queen and King were going to be named and he was chanting silently to himself, ‘ _ Don’t let it be Camille. Anyone else but Camille.’ _

And much to his luck, his prayers were heard, because Camille didn’t win the title of the Queen, as the title went to Aline Penhallow by surprise of many. Not that it came as a surprise to Magnus; Aline was a lot more likeable than Camille. However, it was funny. Camille was  _ trying _ so hard to win. Honestly, Magnus thought that she was going to bully people into voting for her, but now that he saw that she didn’t make it, he grinned happily.

Oh and Camille’s reaction was pure gold and he was so happy that he hit record just before the Queen was announced. Camille threw a hissy fit and she started screaming and yelling, demanding a re-count of the votes. Then, because no one really listened to her, she started crying, well,  _ fake _ crying, saying that the voting was rigged. And when  _ that _ didn’t work, she started yelling and screaming again. At some point, he thought she would slap Aline, but she did no such thing and because the entire crowd was basically  _ laughing _ at her, she then just left and Magnus couldn’t hide his smile, Izzy glancing at him and she shook his head. 

Magnus started laughing out loud and then tucked his phone into his pocket, shaking with laughter and Izzy grinned. “You’re enjoying this way too much,” said Izzy, but there was a sense of satisfaction written all over her face as well and Magnus only shrugged.

“Sorry not sorry, but this is the highlight of my day,” said Magnus.

Which it was because school has been a drag, and then add being forced to endure the parade. Then seeing how two best friends, become a couple before his eyes—and they hadn’t told him. Magnus was sort of hurt by it, they hadn’t even bothered to look for him. Had they even noticed, Magnus mentally shrugged. “So, I’m going to go.” He grinned at the three of them. “Noo, please stay?” Max blinked using his best puppy eyes. 

“Nah, I have to go post this to media sites.” Magnus winked with a look at Izzy. 

“Aww, Magnus lets not be petty.” Izzy rolled her eyes and Magnus gave another look. 

‘Have you  _ met _ her?’ Was the kind of look Izzy was getting. 

“Petty... _ hmm _ .” He tapped his chin. 

As much as Magnus was trying to keep a straight face, it wasn’t happening. “I have to go either way, told mom I was only staying until half time.” He gave apologetic smile to Izzy and to Max. 

“But..” Max started, “ _ Max!”  _ Isabelle warned raising an eyebrow at him.

“I’m sure I’ll see you soon.” He ruffled Max’s hair, “Try not to give her such a hard time.” He smiled fondly. Wishing he had some younger siblings, but also very thankful he didn’t. Mainly, because of his  _ father.  _ Getting down onto Max’s level a bit more, “Between you and I, sisters are way cooler.” He winked, because he was quite fond of Izzy.

“But, I will bid you adieu for now.” He smiled putting his hands into his pockets. 

**

It was Monday. Three days after the accident and Alec was sure he hit rock bottom after the game on Friday as he was completely  _ out _ of it. The doctors said it was nothing serious; they gave him pain killers if the pain got too much for him to handle and told him to go visit his regular doctor for a follow up in about a week if everything still didn’t feel right. They were saying it was just a sprain knee and with proper rest, everything would be fine. Alec was hoping onto that  _ hope _ . 

Alec was happy that his leg wasn’t broken. However, his knee hurt like hell and he groaned when he moved his leg. It was morning and he was sitting in the kitchen, looking at his hurt leg and he then ducked his head down, sighing and then leaned back, shaking his head. The next day, on Saturday, Robert came home from his  _ business _ trip. Alec rolled his eyes. Business trip, yeah right. He took a few days off so that he could bang the  _ other _ woman and when his dad came home he was  _ raging. _

Not only that his weekend off had come to an end too soon, but he was pissed when he heard that Alec’s team had lost the game that day. The fact that Alec had gotten himself hurt didn’t matter. In fact, the man even blamed Alec himself for getting hurt; in his opinion, Alec didn’t really have his head in the game and that was why he got hurt. So, yes… all of this was blamed on Alec. However, unlike the other times when Alec would snap back at Robert, this time he did absolutely nothing and just took everything in silence, having his head bowed down and his heart fell to the pit of his stomach.

Maryse tried telling Robert to shut the fuck up as she was worried for her son, but that didn’t matter. At one point, Alec actually thought Robert would  _ hit _ him. He didn’t know what had gotten into Robert, he had never raised his hand on his children, but now… he was so different. Luckily, Jace stood up that time to him and somehow managed to make the man leave and stop bothering Alec. Well, it’s not like it mattered; Robert blamed Alec and he was just so,  _ so _ tired of everything. 

But he was also nervous that he’d never be able to return back to the field. He had heard the stories of players getting hurt and never returning to the field. Alec wasn’t really playing for himself, but for Robert. Despite everything that the man had said to him, Alec still wanted to impress him. It was fucked up, Alec knew it, but… It was what it was and he chewed on his lower lip, sighing deeply and he was shaking his head.  _ Now what? _

Alec snapped back to reality when Max ran into the kitchen and gently tugged Alec’s shirt, pouting when he saw that Alec was in a bad mood. That day, he didn’t hear all of the horrible things that Robert had told him; before he was able to hear anything, Izzy took Maxie up to his room and played the music on full volume so that he wasn’t able to hear all of the screaming and yelling. Only then she came to check up on Alec, who was in his room, in tears and Alec shook his head, clearing his throat and he gently ruffled Max’s hair.

“Hey, buddy,” said Alec and tried to smile. He then cocked his head when he saw that Max was holding something in his hands. It was a piece of paper. “Maxie, what do you have there?” asked Alec then and tried to cheer up a little bit. He didn’t want Max to see him like this. He was his  _ older _ brother, someone that Max looked up to. So, he decided to hold it together for the sake of him. 

“I drew you something, so that you won’t be sad anymore,” said Max with a small voice and handed Alec a piece of paper. On it, he drew Alec playing football and a sad smile appeared on Alec’s face. Next to it, the boy had written  _ ‘Get well soon, Alec’.  _ Alec pressed his lips together and he nodded.

“Thank you so much, Maxie,” said Alec and ruffled his baby brother’s hair. “This helps. I’m not sad anymore,” said Alec, which wasn’t a lie really. He was still devastated, but Max’s get-well-gift made him feel a lot better. 

“Good,” said Max, cheering up and he then looked at Alec’s wrapped up knee. “Does it hurt?” he then asked and Alec nodded.

“It does hurt a little bit,” said Alec and Max’s smile dropped. “But,” he said. “Doctors say it’s nothing serious. Just a few weeks and I’ll be as good as new,” he then said with a wink and that seemed to cheer up Max enough, perking up as Maryse called out for him, telling him to go get ready for school and he quickly ran to his mom, Alec looking down and he sighed.

“Alec..” Iz started to talk, but Alec raised his hand. He wasn’t going to listen to what she was gonna say, trying to make him feel better about this. There wasn’t much of anything  _ that  _ would. He was too frustrated and upset to care about feeling better. “But-.” She tried again, “Look I appreciate the effort, just stop.” He gave her a defeated look, and just shook his head. 

Robert had just laid into him and trying to make him  _ feel  _ better wasn’t going to help. Alec knew it wasn’t  _ his _ fault, that accidents happen. But, Alec wasn’t sure that it was  _ just  _ an accident. The more he thought about it. Especially in the moments leading up to him getting hurt, and after. Morgenstern didn’t move until Alec was against him.. That’s when Alec felt his knee give and then he was hit.. It all happened too fast.. So it could’ve just been an accident like how everyone else saw it..

But, no one else knew about Morgenstern and Verlac threatening him. Or in fact that they threatened  _ both  _ Isabelle and  _ himself _ . They’d only  _ attacked _ him so far, if that’s what that had been. And Alec wasn’t overthinking it. Which Alec did have that sort of problem with a lot of things. 

“Alec, let’s go!” It was Jace hollering from down the hall. Then Alec remembered that Maryse was driving them, as they didn’t want him walking that far on his bummed leg on crutches. “Coming!” He called not that Alec exactly wanted to go today. Not after finding out they’d lost the game. Alec figured everyone on the team, but Jace would be mad at him. Most of the girls would try to take pity on him, and he just didn’t want to deal with it. 

**

While it was now Monday, and while Magnus spent the weekend annoyed with Ragnor and Cat. It had been Saturday morning when Magnus was fed up with both of them. They ended up fighting, which just annoyed him more. So  _ their  _ relationship wasn’t any of his business—was something Cat said to him. They’d been best friends—for  _ how _ long? Ragnor had just sat there, it wasn’t like he said anything.. Like what was going on?!

Magnus had watched Dirty Dancing, a good number of times. Because why? ‘ _ Nobody puts baby in a corner. _ ’ Though Magnus wasn’t exactly baby, by any means. But with his friends Ragnor and Cat, they had him here.. Where he didn’t know where they stood as friends. Since they’d gone off to college things had felt sort of different. He didn’t know if it was just the distance between them, or if in the last few months had they grown apart. 

Halloween had been fun, but it still been tense sorta. Maybe this was part of growing up? God he hope not. It was just frustrating because Magnus missed them. Maybe he was jealous they had each other, while at the moment he had no one. At least not like he did when they’d all been together. For the last few months, dance was all Magnus had. Somewhere to place these frustrations, and feelings. 

If dance wasn’t there for Magnus, he was sure he’d be driven mad by how  _ lonely _ he felt. Surely, he had Raphael, but that wasn’t it. And yes, Isabelle was his friend, but still… He missed Ragnor and Cat. It was so obvious that they had drifted apart, but he didn’t want to accept it yet. Magnus hated change. So, pretending that this was just a temporary thing was the way to go. He was sure that they’d get back to the way it was. Promises were made that they would forever stay friends, but it was tough. Magnus tried keeping contact with them, but they were too busy with their relationship to keep up with active responses back to Magnus. And that hurt. Like hell.

Magnus was slowly walking to Alicante High, his head bowed down as he was completely lost in his thoughts. Again, he was running late, but truth be told, he didn’t even care this time. Usually he tried his best to come on time, but now it didn’t matter. Ragnor and Cat didn’t need him anymore. They have moved on with their lives and so should he. At that thought, Magnus choked up and puffed his cheeks, feeling his eyes burning. Nope, he wasn't going to cry over this. No way. However, tears fell and he angrily started wiping them and he groaned, rolling his eyes.  _ This sucked. _

By the time he reached the school, all of the students had already been in class. Magnus huffed under his breath and didn't even want to step inside. How about if he skipped school that day? That seemed like a good idea to Magnus and just as he was about to head away from the school he saw someone sitting not too far away from him. He narrowed his eyes, because he recognised the person. It was Lightwood. Curious, Magnus slowly made his way up to Alec, because it seemed odd to him that he wasn't in class as well.

That day, Alec didn't feel like going to school, because he knew everyone would be staring at him. And he wasn't wrong, because even after the first period started, people were still staring and whispering about him. He couldn't just sit there inside and deal with all the stares and whispers. He didn’t hear what they were saying, but he didn’t have to to hear, because he  _ knew _ . So, because of that, he excused himself to the teacher, grabbed his crutches and just went  _ out. _ To get some air, because being inside stuck with other students, especially Verlac grinning at him, was going to drive him  _ nuts.  _

Alec couldn’t  _ breathe _ in class, just knowing that everyone blamed him for losing the game on Friday. He couldn’t deal with it. No way. When he came out of the school, he felt a lot better and he slowly made his way to the benches, sitting there and was just staring in front of himself blankly, digging his fingers into his hair, pulling onto it out of frustration. Honestly, he felt like crying, because he felt so helpless. His eyes went to his hurt knee and he then clenched his jaw, sighing. He didn’t know what to do; he wanted to talk to someone how  _ afraid _ he was, but to who? He couldn’t talk to his family, because he didn’t want them to worry too much. Plus, they would all tell him that he was going to be okay. To always keep faith.

But he wanted someone to just  _ listen _ and not give him false hope. Sure, the doctors said it was nothing serious, but who knew… Recovery didn’t go always like you hoped to. He then remembered Magnus from the day when he broke down about the news of Izzy. He was there and just  _ listened _ and told him that it was okay to cry. He huffed under his breath and then looked up when he heard footsteps coming closer to him. He expected a teacher to go check up on him, but he was pleasantly surprised to see Magnus slowly coming closer to him. Okay, what was he doing there? Oh, right… probably late. Again. Alec rolled his eyes at that, but it wasn’t like he was annoyed. No, it sort of amused him this time and he snorted. 

Because Magnus left the game early that day, he didn’t know anything about Alec’s accident. So, he was quite surprised when he saw that Alec had crutches with him and even though he had jeans over his wrapped up knee, one could easily see that his knee was wrapped up. Magnus’ eyes widened and he hurried over to Alec, concerned. Yes, he was  _ concerned.  _ Well, it didn’t really come as a surprise to him. He was already pretty sure he had fallen for the Lightwood, no matter how much he wanted to deny that fact.

“Hey,” said Magnus, his eyes on crutches, but he didn’t dare to bring it up quite yet. 

“Hey,” said Alec and looked up at Magnus, who also didn’t look in the best mood. “Late again?” he asked, trying to make a joke, but his tone fell flat and he then looked down, sighing.

“You could say that.” Magnus gave a weak chuckle. What else was he supposed to say, he did have a habit of being late. But, today he didn’t actually care. Hell, Magnus hadn’t really put a lot of time into getting ready either. He was just not feeling it. Magnus had some eyeliner on, and his hair sorta done. But overall Magnus wasn’t completely put together. Frankly Magnus was tore up with what happened between his friends and himself.

They both were silent for a while, just enjoying it really. Magnus would glance at Alec, and would start to ask. He didn’t want to bring it up unless Alec wanted too. There was a time a couple of years ago, that he’d twisted his own knee. That also brought up a lot of disgruntled memories, about his father. Not just about him, but about Cat and Ragnor. 

“You can ask you know.” It was Alec who spoke up, not that Alec didn’t figure that Magnus didn’t already know. Everyone knew at this point, at least that’s what Alec thought. 

Knew that because of  _ him,  _ they had lost the homecoming game. Here he was again berating himself over something that wasn’t  _ his  _ fault, but it sure felt like it. The stares, his father’s anger, the disappointment in Jace’s eyes that he wouldn’t say, the worried looks Max, Izzy and everyone else gave him. That was his fault, and Alec believed it—but tried not to. Yet, even though he was trying not to, he still did. This was his senior year, he wasn’t supposed to be injured.  

“I mean it’s because of me that we lost the game on Friday,” stammered Alec and Magnus glanced back at him. Something on Magnus’ face told him that Magnus didn’t know about his accident or how the game ended after all. It was true, Magnus didn’t know. Not that he cared, anyway. He had other things to worry about than to focus how a  _ stupid _ game ended. “You don’t know, do you?” asked Alec softly and Magnus shook his head.

“No,” said Magnus. “What happened?” he dared to ask, hoping that he wasn’t too direct.

“There was… an accident,” said Alec, though he still didn’t believe it was an  _ accident _ like others like to put it. The look, smirk on Morgenstern’s face rubbed him the wrong way. And the way Verlac smirked at him, too. He just  _ knew _ , but of course no one was about to believe him if he said something. And he had no proof. So there was that. “Now my knee is injured,” said Alec and clenched his jaw, looking down. “And we lost the game because of me,” he repeated and shook his head.

Alec didn’t even know why he was telling Magnus all of this. But there was something about Magnus, he was easy to talk to. And Alec felt like he could trust him. Magnus’ eyes widened a bit and he bit into his lower lip. Well, he could  _ see _ Alec was injured, but he didn’t think Alec got hurt on the field. And what was worse, he was blaming himself for losing the game. Why? It wasn’t his fault the accident happened. “I’m sorry,” said Magnus softly and looked up at Alec. “I had no idea. I left the game early… I was bored,” he added, trying to make a joke out of it, but he kept his face straight and he sighed. “Don’t blame yourself.”

“Why not? Everyone else does,” said Alec sadly. 

“But it’s not...” said Magnus, his voice trailing off. “How serious is it?” he then asked. “Sorry if I’m prying, I just-”

“The doctors said it’s nothing serious,” said Alec. He didn’t mind the questions. “But I just… have this  _ horrible _ feeling,” he said and sighed. “That it won’t be okay. And then what? I’ll never be able to return to the field,” said Alec and started biting on his nails, his fingers shaking terribly. “Then I’ll be really worthless to my dad,” he added and Magnus’ stomach twisted. He didn’t like Alec’s father at all. 

“Alec...”

“Even worse, I won’t be able to train ballet anymore,” blurted out Alec and Magnus’ eyes widened. That was another thing that worried him; he  _ liked _ training ballet with Magnus. At first he felt silly, but he now quite liked it. More than football, in a way. He was with Magnus there, he didn’t have to pretend to be something he wasn’t when he was with Magnus. 

“Yes you will,” said Magnus calmly. “We’ll do just other things where you won’t be straining your knee,” said Magnus softly and with that kind of calmed down Alec. He gave him  _ hope _ and he huffed under his breath, nodding. “And you will be okay, everything will be okay,” he then said and Alec let out a sad scoff. “Is this why you’re out here?”

“Yeah,” said Alec and shrugged. “I just… I needed to be alone,” he said. 

Actually he didn’t want to be alone, but everyone else would give him an annoyed look, or looked at him sadly. It was the looks, and Alec couldn’t handle. 

“Enough about my pathetic self.” Which he was pathetic letting himself wallow as he was. Everything had crashed on him, between Robert and coming to school. He just wasn’t in it, to be here.. But staying home wasn’t exactly an opinion. He was grateful for Magnus trying to keep his hopes up, but Alec just knew different. 

“Given this was a few years ago, I too twisted my knee.” Magnus smiled warmly at Alec, trying to reassure him that this still wasn’t the end of everything. His problems were still very much valid, but Magnus couldn’t let his own pain be more important than Alec’s. “Alec, you’re not pathetic. Something bad happened, and it’s okay to be upset.” Was this something of Alec’s father’s doing? To make Alec feel like what he felt wasn’t justified. That it wasn’t okay to hurt, when you  _ are _ hurting.

It wasn’t any of Magnus place to say anything, but no one should feel like Alec. 

“Thank you,” was all that Alec said. He needed to hear someone say that to him. “Ugh, I really don’t feel like going back inside,” said Alec then and rolled his eyes, Magnus grinning as a great idea popped in his mind. Since he was planning to skip classes anyway, why not have Alec join him?

“Same,” said Magnus. “Here’s an idea. Why don’t we skip classes today?” 

Alec’s eyes grew, but he like the idea. “Together?” he asked and he felt his cheeks heating up. Who knew, maybe Magnus had other plans and-

“Of course!” said Magnus happily. “And I know of a great place where we can hang out!” he then said and clasped his hands together. “There’s a new cafe just around the corner that I wanted to check out. Wanna join me?” he asked, hopeful and Alec was in.

“I’m in,” said Alec, eager and Magnus winked. “Just wait… I need to stand up… and ugh,” said Alec as he was getting ready to stand up. Magnus decided to help him, wrapping an arm around Alec’s waist, who felt his heart almost jump out of his chest, but Magnus didn’t think of it too much and he then reached for the crutches, handing them over to Alec, who grabbed them and prompted himself on them. “I-I’m okay,” stammered Alec and Magnus narrowed his eyes when he noticed the flush.

“Great. I’ll lead the way,” said Magnus and the two of them slowly made their way to the cafe.

**

“Sebbby!!” Cried Camille as everyone knew that they’d seen each other a few times already that day. But Camille had quite the flair for the dramatics. With the loss of the title of Homecoming Queen, Camille was already very untolerable to many. What was funny there was a video of her hissy fit from Friday night going around, on basically all of the social media. Whoever took it was a genius, but the way Camille was acting now.. Was more moppy and bitchy. She’d throw glared at Aline. 

The ‘Sebby’ was rather annoying to Izzy’s ears, as Camille had all but screamed as she ran over to her boyfriend. From Izzy point of view, the bitch and the two creeps. A shiver ran down her back as Morgenstern looked right at her. But Izzy at that point quickly turned away. 

“Izzy! Sweet sister of mine.” Was what Jace said as he slid up next to the table. Which caused Izzy to raise an eyebrow at him. “What do you want Jace?” She asked knowing that this would be about him needing his help in Chemistry. 

“Can yo-.” Izzy held her hand up to her brother, “Payment first.” She looked at him, and Jace sighed as he sat down on the other side of the table. It was then that Izzy was looking around for Alec, because she figured he’d need help getting his lunch. “Jace? Where’s Alec?” A panic washed through her. Where was her big brother? 

“Don’t know he wasn’t in history either, and neither was Bane.” Jace shrugged, as he took a bite of the school pizza. 

Izzy didn't like the sound of that. Lately, she had been very worried about Alec, because she knew something was up with her brother. Not just pressure about being the best and football and their father constantly pushing Alec. No, there was something else eating her brother apart and she was worried. It was something much bigger and serious. Plus, this injury. Izzy tried to help Alec as much as she could, but there was just so much she could do. Alec started pushing people away and the fact that he might had been alone now scared her. Alec surely wouldn't do something stupid? It was unlike Alec to just disappear like that, but he probably just needed some space.

“I'm worried about Alec,” said Izzy with a small voice. “Have you noticed that there's been something on his mind as of lately?” she then asked and looked at Jace, who narrowed his eyes and he shrugged.

“Stress about school and football, Iz,” said Jace, because he didn't really know where Isabelle was aiming with that and the girl rolled her eyes. Jace was  _ so _ dense and it pissed her off. Even a blind person could see that Alec was struggling with something else as well and she rubbed her forehead out of frustration.

“Have you tried  _ texting  _ Alec?” asked Isabelle and then rolled her eyes. Jace said nothing, but his silence spoke volumes. Jace just assumed Alec went out to vent or something like that. He didn't read too much into it, but the panic on Izzy’s face made him worry a bit.

“I'm sure he's fine. Probably skipping classes. He didn't look too keen on going to school today,” said Jace and shrugged.

“Alec  _ never _ skips classes,” said Isabelle, because Alec was the type of person that followed rules religiously. “Something must be up,” she said and pulled out her phone, sent a short text to Alec, just checking up on Alec, asking him where he was and if he was okay. As she waited for an answer, she glanced at Morgenstern and shuddered when he looked at her. “Morgenstern’s staring at me again,” she said under her breath.

“Should I go there and-”

“No, let it be, Jace,” said Izzy and then perked up when her phone buzzed. She quickly unlocked her screen and visibly relaxed when she saw the text from Alec.  _ ‘I'm fine. I couldn't handle the stares, Iz. I needed to get out. I'm with Magnus now, all's good. No need to worry, I'll tell you more when I get home.’  _ “It's Alec,” she said and huffed under his breath. “I guess he's skipping school with Magnus after all,” she then added. She didn't support skipping classes, but in this case she actually understood why Alec needed to get out. And she was happy Magnus was there with him, as he was a good friend of hers, so she knew Alec was in safe hands.

**

Mentally groaning, Alec was ready to throw his crutches. Why? Because they were a pain in the neck. They were uncomfortable, and were making his underarms rather sore. It was after Magnus held the door open for Alec to walk through, did one of the crutches slip on a napkin. Someone hasn’t properly disposed of it, and his crutch caught it and slid. Which that caused Alec to hiss as he put too much pressure down onto his knee. Alec only had catch himself from falling face forward into the floor.

“Are you okay?!” Was what he heard from behind him as he hobbled over to the first table his eyes laid on. Trying to be macho about it, he waved Magnus off about it. It wasn’t a big deal, yes it caused him some unnecessary pain. It wasn’t like he could’ve helped whoever dropped the napkin now, right? There was also a slight pink on his cheeks, because he embarrassed himself.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” said Alec, shrugging it off like it was nothing and Magnus gave him a little smile, relieved that Alec was feeling okay. His smile made Alec’s heart jump a little and he quickly looked down as he tried to calm himself down. Okay, seriously, he needed to get his shit together! However, when Magnus slowly helped him with the crutches, putting them away so that they weren’t in the way, he felt his cheeks heating up even more and he mentally slapped himself. Seriously, what was with him?!

“Well, good,” said Magnus, smile bright, but then awkward silence fell in between them and the waitress brought them their drinks after they ordered, both of them staring down. Magnus didn’t know what to say, feeling the awkwardness in between growing and he cursed. He was at the cafe with Alec. Alone. That made him feel giddy, even though he knew he shouldn’t be! Alec was probably straight, so it was silly for him to be crushing on him. “So,” said Magnus finally breaking the silence. “I feel like this is the perfect opportunity to talk about our project,” he said and Alec snorted. Oh, yes. He completely forgotten about that!

“It would be a good idea,” said Alec and held back an amused chuckle. “I mean we couldn’t even agree on the subject the last time we worked on it,” he then added and bit down onto his lower lip, Magnus nodding and he then rubbed his forehead. “I was too stubborn,” he then added and Magnus chuckled.

“I guess we both were,” said Magnus and shrugged. “I mean if the army of ancient Greece really interests you that much, we can-”

“Not really,” said Alec and shrugged. “Wars are stupid and boring,” he then added and Magnus arched an eyebrow. Finally they agreed on something and he nodded, because Alec had a point. “Maybe we could, um,” he stammered and Magnus looked at him again and nodded, urging him to continue. “Make a presentation about mythology after all?” he asked and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “I mean if you want. If not we can talk about ancient pots,” he said and the way he said that made Magnus burst into loud laughter. 

Alec smiled shyly when he saw that he made Magnus laugh and chewed on his lower lip, twiddling his fingers together in his lap as he was trying not to blush.  _ Again _ . “Art really doesn’t interest you, does it?” asked Magnus when he finally stopped laughing and he then shrugged. “Sure, mythology is interesting. We can make a project on that,” he then added and Alec’s face cheered up.

“Great,” said Alec. “Finally, we’re making progress,” he then stated proudly and his eagerness made Magnus grin again.

“Oh, yes, quite the process,” said Magnus. “We finally have the subject we’ll talk about. Look at us making progress,” he then joked and Alec grinned.

“Hey, it’s a start,” stated Alec with a grin and Magnus hummed in agreement. 

Within moments of saying that, an awkward silence broke between them. It wasn’t like Alec had brought his bookbag with him. Magnus had his, or at least a bag of some sorts. But that didn’t mean that Magnus had his history book. What was suppose to happen now? Alec wasn’t someone that skipped school, hell besides having his tonsils taken out when he was ten. He hadn’t missed a day of school, not without being deadly sick or whatever.  

Shaking his head, the more Alec thought about this school year. He wouldn’t have thought that he and Magnus would be sitting at some table like this last year. Hell, Alec hadn’t thought he’d end up hurt this time last year either. Even taken dance and enjoying it. He wouldn’t have thought he’d enjoy it as much as he has. Sure, Alec thought the idea that came from Coach Garroway was an odd one, but Alec was always up for improving his game. Not that Alec’s father saw it that way, especially now that Alec was hurt. Thinking back to earlier that morning, Robert had placed blame on his focus being more on dance. Maybe it was, so what? Alec enjoyed it. 

“Earth to Lightwood?” Magnus said waving his hand in front of Alec’s face, which when Magnus saw Alec’s blush it made him smirk. 

“Oh, um, sorry,” stammered Alec and cleared his throat. “I was, um, just thinking,” he said and then looked down when Magnus smiled again, flush growing again and he rolled his eyes. Magnus nodded. It seemed like Alec had the tendency to get lost in his own thoughts. He had to have a lot on his mind, especially with an injury like this. He could only wonder what kind of an reaction Alec's father had and Magnus bit down onto his lower lip, wondering if it was okay to ask. They weren't  _ that _ close, but still.

“About?” 

“Just… stuff.”

“Your father among other things?” asked Magnus and Alec looked up at him, eyes wide.

“How did you-?”

“An unlucky guess, I suppose,” said Magnus with a shrug. “I know the…  _ look _ when I see it.” Magnus then took in a deep breath and Alec narrowed his eyes when he heard that. What did it mean? Plus talking about Robert made him feel uneasy and he felt the  _ need _ to apologise to Magnus in his dad's name for the thing he had called him and he averted his gaze away. “I have a… complicated relationship with my father as well,” said Magnus, oversimplifying things and Alec looked up at him.

_ ‘Complicated’ _

There was a nervous laugh that went off in Magnus’ mind. While trying to put Alec at ease about talking about his own father.. Magnus made it weird for him to even speak about his own. While Magnus’ father and Robert Lightwood were completely different. There were things that triggered Magnus, especially when the vase had been thrown at Alec. It had brought Magnus back to when he was six or eight, and his father had broken beer bottles and held on one his mother. It was just the sound of the glass breaking that sent him there. 

Much like right now, “Is he a scumbag too?” Was what Magnus heard come from Alec’s mouth. While his father was indeed a scumbag, but their reasons were different. 

Magnus had nodded his head signalling that his own father was indeed a scumbag. While Magnus didn’t know why Alec was calling his own father one, he didn’t want to pry into it further unless that was something Alec wanted. “Anyway,” said Magnus and took in a deep breath, trying to change the topic of the conversation as he could feel tension rising in between them. Plus, the look on Alec's face told him he would be rather talking about something else. 

“Right..” Was something Alec muttered. Not really sure where all of this embarrassment came from. It was just Alec  _ knew  _ that he could trust Magnus, with the  _ information.  _ It was just hard because both his parents were staples of their community. Maryse was the assistant District Attorney, and Robert while he too was a lawyer—most the businesses around had him as their lawyer. 

It made going on sometimes hard without being known who he was. Plus there would be people waiting on this information to hold it over him to get what they wanted out of his parents. It wasn’t like that for him, no it was.. More that he didn’t want to see his mother’s heart broken because of  _ him.  _

“Can I get you anything else?” Was what broke the silent tension between them. It caused them both to look up at each other before looking at the waitress that wasn’t much older than themselves. Alec shrugged and then looked at Magnus, wondering if he would want something else to order. Truth be told, Alec was  _ starving; _ he hadn’t eaten much these days as he was preoccupied with other things. 

“Um, no thank you,” stammered Alec, trying to be polite, but then his stomach decided to betray him as it grumbled loudly and he felt his cheeks heating up, looking down when he heard Magnus chuckling there next to him and he muttered something to himself. Did he really have to make an ass out of himself in front of Magnus every single time?!

“I think that would be a loud yes after all,” said Magnus and sent Alec a wink, the flush on his face making Magnus’ grin grow and he then opened up the menu. “What are you in the mood for?” he asked and Alec gave in into his hunger, glancing at the menu and his stomach announced it was hungry again when he saw they had French fries. Magnus held back another chuckle and he waited for Alec to take his pick.

“French fries,” said Alec slowly and Magnus nodded, smiling. “And, um, burger?”

Magnus kept smiling the whole time as Alec was taking his pick and he then leaned closer to the menu again, his fingers brushing against Alec’s hand, who quickly moved it away, feeling his skin tingling and Magnus felt a jolt of electricity as well when they touched, quickly looking down as he tried to mask his embarrassment, clearing his throat, quickly ordering himself a panini and a salad, then when the waitress left them, he slowly looked up at Alec, who was staring in front of himself and his heart made a jump.

Without realizing it, Alec had been staring at Magnus. Another blush darker than the last hit his cheeks. It caused Alec’s eyes to dart away from Magnus. How could anyone be as beautiful as Magnus was? Just how? It wasn’t possibly, at least Alec didn’t believe that it was real. It was times like these with Magnus that left Alec more confused. 

“I think we’ve come a long way,” Alec said quietly, because since the beginning of the school year.. Magnus didn’t care all that much for him, and Alec knew nothing about Magnus. Well besides thinking he was different than most. 

“Yeah,” said Magnus with a little smile and sighed happily when he saw that Alec was still staring at him. Was he checking him out? Magnus felt butterflies in his stomach again and felt his cheeks heating up again, it was probably only his wishful thinking. Before he was able to say anything else, the waitress brought them their order. Just in time, really, because silence fell between them. Alec's eyes lit up when his eyes went to his food and he quickly started eating, stuffing his face with food and Magnus had to hold back from laughing. “Is it good?” asked Magnus and Alec nodded.

“Best burger ever,” said Alec, his mouth full and Magnus started silently laughing as he watched Alec eating. He was like an adorable hamster, grinning at his own thoughts and he then started eating his own order. At one point, he looked up and saw that Alec managed to get some of the sauce onto his cheek, Magnus chuckling.

“You've got a little something…  _ there,”  _ said Magnus, signing to his own cheek and Alec flushed, quickly grabbing his napkin, but he managed to fuck up even that. Magnus laughed and shook his head. “No, little more to the left… Wait let me,” said Magnus, wanting to help and he leaned  _ very _ close to Alec, wiping his cheek clean and Alec swallowed thickly when his eyes found Magnus’, heart ready to jump out of his chest.

_ Holy shit. _

Magnus was even more gorgeous close like this, Alec's eyes falling onto Magnus’ lips and his breath shuddered, Magnus frozen in place as well as he just couldn't move, admiring Alec's beauty up close. He had never noticed how gorgeous his eyes were, and his eyelashes were so  _ long _ . If he leaned any closer… Magnus swallowed thickly and then quickly pulled back. “I'm sorry,” stammered Magnus. “I shouldn't have-”

“I didn't mind,” blurted out Alec and his eyes widened when he realised what he had just said. “I-I mean,” stammered Alec and shrugged. “Don't worry about it. It's okay,” he said. He felt weird and awkward, but he was past trying to be mean to Magnus, he just didn't want him to think he did anything wrong.

“So, um, yes,” said Magnus and tried to get his mind under control. “So… we should talk about our project,” he said as he was desperate to change the topic of the conversation. “If you want, you can come over.”

“Today?” blurted out Alec.

“Yeah. The sooner, the better. I mean, we're very far behind,” joked Magnus and Alec nodded.

“Okay,” said Alec, smiling sheepishly. “I'll tell my mom. She can drive us over your place,” he then added and Magnus nodded.

**

They were both sitting on the bench that they’d started their day out on, or well it was the bench that Alec had been sitting on when Magnus found him there. A light smile that grace over his features, with a tinge of a blush forming as Alec remembered that Magnus was there with him. Sitting right there next to him, as they were waiting for the bell to ring before they went out in front of the school. 

They didn’t wanna get caught, by teachers or his mom. Mostly because Alec knew, especially if Maryse  _ found  _ out that he’d skipped, he’d never hear the end of it. Maryse—his mom was much more lax on stuff, but  _ skipping.  _ That was a huge no-no in her books. Rule were something his mother was strict on, especially following them. 

Skipping school was among the many  _ not _ to do, but today Alec couldn’t be here. He’d tried telling her he didn’t feel up to going, but just because he was injured and  _ not _ sick too. She wouldn’t let him, because being injured wasn’t hard enough. But the his humiliation over the accident,  _ if  _ it was indeed an accident. “Alec?” Magnus called to him, and seeing that Magnus was walking towards the front of the school. That had to have meant the bell rang right?

Forcing himself up onto his good leg, even with the practice of dance Alec hadn’t got twirling around right. He was always falling over when he tried, and this wasn’t all that different. 

“You go it?” Magnus asked trying to contain his laughter, which Alec seen a mock glare his way. “Yes!” He place the crutches under his arms and slowly moved towards Magnus. 

“Okay.” Magnus said holding his hands up like he didn’t do anything. But, Alec could still see the laughter in Magnus’ eyes. Which was something else, and a tinge of a blush graced Alec’s features. 

It was as the past by a set of doors, Alec felt something grab his crutch. Trying to pull it forward, he didn’t wanna jerk to hard and risk putting too much pressure onto his one leg. So he turned to see, and who he saw was who he should’ve guessed. It was Morgenstern, “ _ What _ ?” An actual glare on his features now, and whatever his good mood disappeared. Who could have a good mood with this creep?! “What do you want Morgenstern?” Asking again, but trying to be calm about it. 

“Just wanted to see how the  _ knee _ was.” It was creepy with how genuine Jonathan was trying to be. “It’s  _ great, _ thanks for asking.” Alec tried not to roll his eyes, anyone with eyes could tell that his knee was the size of a baseball, if not a little bigger. It was mostly the swelling, but still how idiotic could you be. 

“Careful now, we wouldn’t want you to trip.” A crazy look flashed over Jonathan’s features. Not really understanding what was going on here, Alec had started to turn away and try to catch up with Magnus. “Light _ wood… _ ” As Alec had turned his arm collided with Verlac. Alec almost was wondering where Verlac was, if Morgenstern was round, he couldn’t be to far off.

“Whatever.” Alec rolled his eyes as he started to move away from them both. What Alec didn’t notice was Verlac put his foot in front of one Alec’s crutches. “Oh  _ careful _ now.” Verlac started, “Wouldn’t want you to have an  _ accident _ .” Alec let out a hiss as not only did the crutch fall but it brushed against his knee. Luckily Alec was still standing watching as the two idiots walked away. 

What had that been about? It had left Alec confused. “Everything okay?” It was Magnus who was wondering what happened to Alec, after he’d caught site of Izzy. Who then had asked him where Alec was, and Magnus had turned behind him. As Alec had been right behind him, but when he’d turned no one was there—no Alec. So Magnus went to find him. 

“Yeah, I’m good.” Was what Alec said making no mention of Verlac or Morgenstern. They weren’t on any importance.

“Come on then, pretty sure your mom’s waiting.” With a raise of an eyebrow, who did Magnus know that. He was fairly sure that he didn’t tell Magnus what he mom drove, “Right can you hand me that.” Looking down at the crutch that Verlac made fall. “You sure everything is okay?” Alec nodded before replying, “Yeah, why wouldn’t it be?” Magnus shrugged, “We still going to my place?” Alec nodded, “We’re already to far behind on this project.” He laughed sort of nervously, “Plus they’re due next week.” Magnus nodded, he knew that too.

“Allons-y!” Magnus grinned, and Alec only shook his head. If it wasn’t for Izzy and Simon he’d never known what sort of reference that was from. While he did know it meant, let’s go in French. Never in a million years hadn’t it been for his sister and her best friend would he have known that was a Doctor Who reference. 

**

Maryse pulled up by the school soon after that and a little smile brightened her face when she saw her son chatting with another boy, sighing happily. This had been the first time after the accident she had seen a smile on her boy’s face, so she was happy that he got at least someone who he talked to at school. Alec wouldn’t talk to anyone in the family about the accident, but when she saw he had someone, she felt a lot better, honking then to get the teen’s attention and Alec quickly perked up when he saw his mom. “Oh, my mom’s here already,” said Alec happily and Magnus looked at the car that the other pointed to, Magnus nodding and he slowly made his way to the car with Alec, walking behind him, just in case the other tripped or something. 

Magnus opened the door to the front seat of the car and waited patiently for Alec to get it, taking the crutches to the back and Maryse had a smile on her face when she watched Alec’s friend. He seemed like a good kid, was what she decided on and after he got into the car and buckled up, Magnus was more than happy to give the women the directions to his house, feeling all giddy when she pulled up at the driveway of his house. Having Alec over was such an exciting feeling and he helped Alec out of the car, then up to his house and Alec couldn’t stop the blush forming on his cheeks when he saw how caring and protective Magnus was of him. 

Magnus’ mom still wasn’t home, but there was a note telling Magnus that she had gone over to the neighbours. Magnus smiled and then sighed; ever since Asmodeus Anissa always made sure to tell Magnus where she had been at all times, so that her son wouldn’t worry. “Okay, my mom’s not over. We’re alone,” announced Magnus with a grin and Alec flushed. 

“O-oh.”

“Yeah,” said Magnus and awkward silence fell between them. “Well, better stop stalling and get onto it already,” said Magnus and huffed under his breath. “My room’s up here,” he then added and signed Alec to follow him up the stairs.  Alec slowly made his way up and then sat onto Magnus’ bed as the other quickly went to get another chair from the kitchen, Alec taking in a deep breath as he looked around the room and his eyes widened when he saw a huge poster from the movie  _ Dirty Dancing.  _ Alec hadn’t seen it, but he had heard of it. 

“You, um, a fan?” asked Alec when Magnus returned back with a chair and pointed ot the poster.

“Yeah,” said Magnus. “It’s my favourite movie ever. You don’t like it?”

“No, um, I’ve never seen it,” he said and Magnus shrieked.

“Oh, no, where have you been living?” asked Magnus with a playful voice. “We’ll need to change that. After we finish with the project work for the day, we’re watching the movie, Lightwood. I’m not letting you go home before that,” he then said and Alec laughed quietly, liking the sound of that.

So, both of them rolled up their sleeves and finally started making some progress on their project. 


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s us again! We’ve finally updated! We know it took us about a month to updates. August has been pretty busy for us or at least Katychan666.
> 
> Updates will probably be about as spuratic because of things getting busy for the next couple of months too.. she’s trying to finish up school and it’ll soon be holiday season for Halloween and Christmas … T_T for I Sly at my job. I hope it doesn’t get too bad, but I’m just saying. 
> 
> So maybe look for an update between 2 weeks to maybe 3 weeks from now? If you haven’t seen an update come yell at us on Twitter XD which mine (Sly) is @CaseesMalec and Katy’s is @Katyc04090227

It had been only been an hour ago or so since they’d called it a day on doing their project. What was funny was they’d gotten a lot of it done, and thankfully so. It was due in the next couple of days. So much stuff had happened that, Alec had completely forgotten about the assignment until earlier that day. Which was so unlike him, there had just been so much going on. Especially after that fight with his father—where Robert had thrown the vase at him. 

It had been extreme, and unpredictable. Which that had been his father for the last few months. Especially more so since Alec knew about his father’s affair. Not that Alec was using it as blackmail, but he didn’t want his mother to know. It would wreck her. 

_ “Nobody puts Baby in the corner.”  _

Was what Magnus had muttered as the character  _ Johnny,  _ who was played by Patrick Sawyze said it on Magnus’ television while looking at Frances, which everyone actually called her Baby was played by Jennifer Grey. 

Alec barely knew anything about this movie, which seemed to have shocked Magnus for some odd reason. Alec was never really into stuff like  _ this _ ? Other than sports, and school work. Wait maybe he had seen this, maybe it was Lydia? Of course it had to have been Lydia that tried to get him to watch it, but then it turned into a makeout session.. It was just eh, but watching it with Magnus.. it felt different.

Plus before coming into it Magnus had gave him a run down of at least about the two main characters, which were well Baby and Johnny. 

Although right now, Alec couldn’t tell you how much he’d actually watched of the movie. Magnus was sitting on the other side of him, on Magnus’ bed. It had been after they finished studying and turned the movie on that Magnus claimed up next to him. Because before Magnus had been sitting in a dining room table chair as they worked on the project. Mostly because Magnus knew that Alec needed to rest his knee. 

There was hardly telling how many times Alec had stolen glances at Magnus, mainly because Alec could tell how much he enjoyed the movie. It had been the little things that Magnus did throughout watching it. It was the quirks of Magnus’ lips that would go into a smile when there was interaction between Johnny and Baby, especially when Johnny had been teaching Baby how to dance. 

It caused a deep blush on Alec’ cheeks, why Alec hadn’t a clue why. It been during that that Magnus always caught him staring, and Alec had quickly turned back to the movie.

Though now, Magnus was belting out the lyrics to the song that was going on and Johnny and Baby danced. “I’ve had the time of my life!” Magnus voice was amazing, and it was stirring something in Alec that he wasn’t sure he’d be able to hide. Which was sort of embarrassing, because why was him singing doing this kind of things to him?!

Alec couldn’t tell you how much of the movie he’d actually watched, versus how many times he’d stolen glances at Magnus. There’d been a few times Magnus had almost caught him looking. Or so he thought. What he didn’t know was that Magnus indeed noticed him staring after all. Magnus wasn’t a fool, he knew when someone was looking at him and he couldn’t stop smiling when he saw Alec staring. He didn’t know what was that all about, but Magnus wasn’t going to lie, he quite liked the attention from the other one and he had to keep reminding himself not to be staring back so obvious.

Yeah, what was that all about? He noticed a flush on Alec’s cheeks when he started singing along his favourite song and he just had to wonder. Did Alexander like him? No, probably not. He remembered Alexander having a girlfriend last year. Lydia Branwell. Surely he was straight! Well, Magnus knew better than to just assume one orientation, but still. He didn’t want to get his hopes up. Especially after Camille and with Alec staring at him so obviously and all the blushing and the stuttering, Magnus just didn’t know what to think anymore.

Well, Alec  _ was _ a bit socially awkward, but then again, who wasn’t? He huffed under his breath and then pressed his lips together. No, he wasn’t going to allow himself to get his hopes up, only to have his heart broken and stomped afterwards. He was smart enough not to fall for a jock. But, Alec wasn’t like the other jocks he had met. Unlike them, Alec was a smart and kind soul, once you got to know him. Yes. He didn’t know what to think and he was snapped back to reality when the credits of the movie rolled on the screen. 

Wow.

He was so preoccupied about thinking of Alec that he didn’t even notice when the movie ended and he finally allowed himself to glance at Alec, who was awkwardly sitting there in silence. He loved watching the movie with Alec. It was his favourite movie ever, so having to share that with the other teen felt kind of special and he happily hummed along as he stopped the movie and then looked at Alec again, who was now nervously playing with his fingers in his lap and he smiled softly.

“So,” said Magnus and looked at Alec, huffing under his breath. “How did you like the movie?” he then asked and Alec perked up when he was spoken to, almost jumping up as he was completely lost in his thoughts. What was he thinking about? Dancing with Magnus. Together. He flushed at his own thoughts and he shook his head as he snapped out of it. Finally. That was a close call. Wow. Seriously, what was up with him?!

“Cool,” said Alec and cleared his throat, Magnus arching an eyebrow. “I was, um, good, yes. Cool,” he stammered and Magnus tried not laugh, but how could he not? Alec was stuttering. Badly. Alec wanted to slap himself and he rolled his eyes. He watched the movie, but he was too busy with staring to actually remember some of the details and he looked down, feeling like the biggest moron on the planet. 

***

Alec and Magnus were slowly making their way to the cafeteria and were just chatting, Alec starving already and his stomach made a growling sound. Magnus didn't comment on it this time, luckily, as he was too busy with talking of the project they had earlier than day. Yes, they were finally able to finish it up and present it with the others in class. In Magnus’ opinion, things went rather well. Mr. Branwell didn't say much, but at least he didn't seem annoyed like he was with some other student’s projects. That meant that it went better than expected since they finished up all of the work in a few days.

“Oh come on,  _ Cupid _ ,” Magnus was grinning as he sat down his tray at the table beside of Izzy, who’d been talking to Simon and Clary as they walked up. It was actually quite good to see that Izzy in the cafeteria, especially after everything with Morgenstern. Maybe the ass had finally taken the hint that she wasn’t interested or maybe the fact he’d been suspended over it. With the banter going on between Alec and Magnus, he’d seen her stop talking to Simon as it wasn’t just Izzy that stopped but Clary and Simon too. 

While Magnus didn’t mind to be the center of attention, Alec from what Magnus could tell was that Alec didn’t care all that much for it. Plus Alec hadn’t said anything to him since Magnus had started teasing him over mispronouncing some words during their presentation, because he’d stumbled after that. “Don’t be  _ like  _ that,  _ Cupid _ .” Who had walked around the table to sit across from him, but was actively ignoring him still yet. 

“What’s with the Cupid?” It was Simon that asked, because he was the only one besides Iz blunt enough to ask right out. That now caused Alec to glare at Magnus with much of a look of ‘really, see what you did.’ Which was much of the cause of Magnus’ laughter that only deepened Alec’s blush that was going on. 

Alec could feel Izzy staring at him and he was refusing to look her way, because Alec knew exactly how his sister could be in these situations. He also knew that later, he would be bombarded with questions.. Questions even Alec didn’t have the answers for. What he was feeling for a certain man right now, Alec didn’t know as his eyes caught Magnus grinning at him. The feeling of butterflies making it hard to even focus on his lunch at the moment. So Alec choose to ignore Simon’s question as Jace flopped down next to him. 

“What’s going on? Why’s Alec so red in the face?” Alec then turned his head towards Jace, and glared. Really, why were they all ganging up on him? It started with Magnus, but Simon hadn’t really. He was only curious, but it was still embarrassing for Alec. Who still hadn’t spoke. “Alexander.” Magnus smirked which caused Alec’s eyes to shot up at him. 

It was when Magnus said his full name that he completely lost it and he flushed even harder, if it was even possible, Magnus’ grin growing. Okay, Magnus had to be doing this on purpose, he had to know what was he doing to him… Wait, exactly  _ why _ was he blushing like a- “Stop it,” hissed Alec, but Magnus only laughed and shrugged. He never should had told him he used to train archery!

Magnus knew he shouldn’t push it too far, but he was having far too much of a good time and he winked. Alec blushed prettily and he chewed on his lower lip, swallowing back another chuckle and he leaned closer to Alec. Magnus chose to address Alec by his full name; he loved the way it sounded. Plus, he always had the pleasure to see the other teen blushing like that, which was always a bonus in his opinion. 

“Murdering your food, isn’t going to make me stop, Al-.” Just as some of the potatoes from Alec fork landed on his face. Magnus gapped while the others looked shocked.

Especially Izzy, she wanted to know what was going on between these two. It was the last day before break, as well as it had been a week since the homecoming game where Alec had been injured. It was apparent how close in the matter of just a few days that Magnus and Alec were, and not the tense awkwardness that had been there like a month ago. 

Something  _ had _ changed, but what? And Iz was about and determined to figure out  _ what.  _

_ “ _ Oh no you  _ didn’t _ just throw food in my hair.” Magnus glared at Alec who was now grinning wildly that was hiding his blush. But it was still very much visible. “So what if I did, you was asking for it.” Alec rolled his eyes taking a very slow bite of the said potatoes that Magnus was now sporting in his hair. “That’s how you wanna play,  _ Cupid.  _ It’s on.” Magnus who had opted for spaghetti for lunch because where Alec had, it didn’t look appetizing to him.

Plus the only way that Magnus would eat the schools spaghetti was with the extra sauce. Magnus picked up his spoon and took a full one and flicked it at Alec, much as Alec had him with the mashed potatoes. 

“ _ Really _ ?” Alec hissed, glaring through the sauce running down his face. “Oh  _ yes _ , really.” A grin breaking out on Magnus’ face before getting hit with the applesauce that Alec wasn’t going to eat. 

“Guys!” Izzy hissed at them because she sure as hell didn’t want to end up like Magnus. She understood what he retaliated. Because she too took the time to make sure she looked with perfection. But this, this was becoming quite childish. Which the oddest thing about this was, it wasn’t like Alec to act like this at all.

“Iz, stay out of it,” said Alec.

“Why so grumpy? I thought Cupid was more laid back and-”

“Enough of the Cupid, _Magnus,_ ” hissed Alec because he had had it enough. Why wouldn't Magnus just give up? And stop pushing things further, annoying him that much more. And honestly, Magnus knew that, but it was just too much fun messing around with Alec. His every reaction was priceless and Isabelle was embarrassed. At this point, everyone was staring at them and she wanted to smack them both!

“Make me,” shot back Magnus with a grin plastered all over his face and that was when Izzy decided to take the matter into her own hands!

“ _ Enough!” _ she said, stood up, grabbed Alec's hand and dragged him out from cafeteria, straight to the girl's bathroom before Alec had the time to protest. Izzy was pissed off and he decided to stay quiet. “Now, explain yourself! What was that just now?  _ Food fight _ ? Really, Alec? What has gotten into you lately?”

Alec hadn’t really noticed at that much of a change in himself, but maybe this put everything else over the top? “…” What was he supposed to say here? That he was questioning his sexuality,  _ that _ since he’d got caught staring at Bane at the beginning of the year.. That something changed?! That once Alec started dance he realized just how much he  _ hated _ football? How much Alec detested their  _ father.  _ How much Robert was hurting their family, and Alec refused to say why?! 

Plus there was the fact that his  _ sister _ had just drug him into the women’s restroom. Which was something Alec was trying not to focus on, the same as trying not to bare much weight onto his knee. He wasn’t walking around with the crutches as much, but he still had a limp.

All of what this was—was  _ nothing _ . 

“Cupid, was what he started calling me after finding out about the archery lesson I took in junior high.” Alec rolled his eyes, but frankly there was more to why Magnus was calling him Cupid. Even though Alec wasn’t about to discuss any of this with her really. He didn’t want to, because even Alec didn’t know what any of what this meant. The fact that Alec was overly confused was frustrating enough. 

“And why does it matter?  _ What’s  _ gotten into me? I mean I figured you’d be all for me being a little wild.” That was always because she said he was stuffy and occasionally uptight. This was Izzy, “You know who you sound like  _ right now? _ ” His eyes bore into her. 

“Don’t you  _ dare _ , big brother.” Which caused Alec to raise an eyebrow at her.

“ _ Yeah _ , you sound like mom.” That was when Alec turned slowly away from her walking way. Knowing, that nothing good would come of it. Because Isabelle was nothing like their mother, and hated being compared or referenced to being  _ like _ her.

***

Magnus was in the dance studio, stretching out and was looking around the room, sighing sadly because he knew Alec wasn't joining him in there today. And probably for a little while as well, looking down and he pressed his lips together. Yep, today was going to suck so much and he sighed again with a heavy heart, feeling disappointed and lonely. He knew it wasn't anyone's fault that Alec wouldn't come that day, but still. He had gotten so used to having Alec there in the dance studio with him that now he felt oddly lonely without him and he bowed his head down.

That was until the door opened and slowly Alec stepped through the door, Magnus’ heart leaping up to his chest and he felt all giddy inside when Alec decided to show up after all. Magnus grinned up to his ears and he quickly got onto his legs, quickly walking up to Alec, who was supporting himself on his crutches and a little smile spread across his lips when he saw that Magnus was looking happy to see him.

“Alexander,” said Magnus happily and winked. “You showed up after all. I thought you wouldn't come… well, now that you're injured and all,” he said and Alec shrugged with a grin.

“Yeah, well,” stammered Alec and shrugged. “I'm going to the doctor later and I needed something to put my mind at rest,” said Alec and Magnus smiled. “Being here makes me… calm. If it makes sense,” he said and flushed when Magnus smiled again and nodded. Magnus knew that very well, being in the dance studio made him calm and happy too.

“I know what you mean,” said Magnus with a chuckle. “So, just sit back and enjoy the show today,’’ said Magnus and grinned, Alec averting his gaze as his heart couldn’t take another glance at Magnus’ bright smile, slowly making his way to the chairs, sitting down. Magnus told Madame Loss that Alec was going to be watching them for today since he was injured and the woman didn’t mind that arrangement at all; everyone was welcomed in her dance studio. 

Alec waved sheepishly to Magnus when he showed him thumbs up, signing that Shavoone was cool with him only watching the class and he then nodded, placing his crutches under the chair, so that they weren’t in the way and relaxed in the seat, his eyes watching the students in the room, some of them working on the positions, other being busy with working on their routines, but the one that Alec’s eyes kept travelling was no other than Magnus, who was just stunning when he danced. 

Magnus made a few piourittes across the studio, his arms elegantly following him and Alec felt his cheeks flushing again as he swallowed thickly. Damn. He made it look so easy, thought Alec and he shook his head, trying not to stare only at Magnus, but as he made another turn, that was kind of impossible on Alec’s part and he bit his lower lip, cursing mentally when he saw Magnus going into a  _ grand plie _ and Alec was reminded again just how  _ flexible _ the other one was, his imagination running wild and he was reminded of Izzy’s words from before again.

_ What has gotten into you? _

Magnus, was the reply Alec came up with and he only then realised how inappropriate that sounded and he cleared his throat. He didn’t even know that his face was red as a tomato by then and Magnus kept grinning when he saw that Alec’s blush was growing. Okay, Alexander  _ had _ to be checking him out. There was no other way around it; wishful thinking or not, Magnus wasn’t a fool and he couldn’t hide the smile and when he winked across the room, Alec quickly looked down and shuddered.

_ Holy crap. _ Just a single wink made his heart ready to jump out of his chest and he took in a deep breath.

*** 

It had been some sort of hell for Alec to convince his mother—-Maryse to let him go to dance an hour ago, before coming  _ here. _ Sure leaving before the end of practice wasn’t exactly ideal for Alec, because he hadn’t got to say goodbye to Magnus. The drive to his doctor's appointment was quiet and tense, especially for him. Which was the biggest reason Alec had wanted to go to dance, because it helped him sort of his mind. Even though all Alec did was sit there. 

Alec knew that Magnus had some big competition coming up, besides their project and it was sort of how the whole  _ Cupid _ thing had started. Magnus had gotten a call from Shavoone saying that Lornezo would also be competing. Which Alec wasn’t exactly sure who  _ that  _ was, but Alec needed some way of calming and distracting Magnus after he got off the phone. 

While normally Alec would probably find it funny how nervous Magnus was being. It was just Alec had never seen  _ Magnus  _ this nervous about anything. It was an hour of distraction and talking nonsense with Magnus then, and also explaining to Magnus he often felt the same before a competition. That had Magnus asking questions, and before Alec knew it. Magnus was teasing him about being Cupid. 

“ _ Alec _ ?” It was his mother that shocked him out of his thoughts. He didn’t want to step outside of this car, because Alec knew once he did. Everything that Alec did to distract himself from thinking about his knee, about his football career—let alone his dancing one. 

Though Alec wasn’t sure if he wanted to make a career out of football or dance. Football was something his father wanted for him, but that too had been Robert pushing his old dream onto his son. Alec didn’t hate football, but he sure had lost whatever passion he had for it. Well that had been until Coach Garroway had suggested taking ballet, it sparked a different interest then. One Alec found more like a hobby if anything, but he did enjoy watching Magnus dance far more. 

Again, it was Maryse saying something to him. “Oh..” with a nod as he’d been called back. The nurse tried to make small talk with him, but he wasn’t exactly having any of it. He was too tense, even though Alec was relaxed before he walked into this building for the most part. It had been a week since the accident, most of the pain was gone. Well expect if he stepped wrong and his knee often was swollen with little no to no activity. 

It been when Alec laid his crutches against the wall for the nurse to get his weight. A verbal hiss came out of his mouth as Alec put weight down onto his leg. He’d only had his physical a few months prior to this, and he couldn’t have gained or loss that much weight. He was this as pointless, and unnecessary but he keep his mouth shut as the woman moved the weights around, before jotting whatever it said down. 

“Alright, here we are.” Gesturing him into the room before asking him to sit on examining table. Where Alec hobbled up onto the table but not before glaring at the nurse, who could’ve helped him. He silently watched her take his pulse and blood pressure, which Alec could figure was probably a little elevated. Between being nervous and how the nurse was treating him. 

But again Alec never was the easiest patient to get along with. “Doctor Starkweather will be in shortly.” With a nod and a slight smile to the woman. Alec wanted to be anywhere but right here. Alec’s smile disappeared as soon as the woman left the room and he just kept staring in front of himself, twiddling his fingers in his lap, trying to calm himself down a little bit, but he couldn’t shake off this horrible feeling,  _ dread _ that something was off. He didn’t know what, but luck had never been on his side and he huffed under his breath.

It was sitting there looking around, what could be said was a bland “sterile” room, as it was the doctor’s office. Alec could feel the nerves welling up in his chest. Sure, he’d been coming to Starkweather for years but he’d never actually been injured like he’d been a week ago. Maybe Alec had been injured before, but  _ this  _ was during senior year. Tonight there was a game, and it was a game Alec knew he wouldn’t be apart of. It shook him, because  _ this _ was his senior year. 

To say that Alec was just upset would be an understatement. Starkweather knew about Alec’s troubles with anxieties, and slight bouts of depression. It was just this year hadn’t exactly gone how Alec had hoped, but he also knew there was much he had gained in the short months. This had just been a huge blow to his self-esteem. It didn’t help that Robert, was an unbelievable ass to him every morning that the man was home. Expressing his distaste for how Alec got injured, even though Robert hadn’t been there. 

Angry frustrated tears wanted to break, but Alec wouldn’t let them. Closing his eyes, he forced his thoughts to drift off towards watching Magnus dance earlier. It sort of helped him relax even though his mind keep wanting to stray away to the possibility of impending bad news. A slight jump as Alec had lost himself inside of his thoughts. There was a rap against the door as it opened, a sharp intake of air went out just as it had came in. His eyes opened focusing on the doctor. 

“Hello, Alec fancy seeing you here again so soon!” Doctor Starkweather chuckled, with a relaxed smile. But for Alec he was anything but relaxed, because too many questions were firing off and he had no answers. “How are you?” Was asked, how was he really because? Alec didn’t know at least not really. “Fine, I guess.” It was given with a shrug as Alec was stretching out his leg. It had tightened up on him, but that wasn’t all that different than him sitting in class, or anywhere really. 

Sure for the most part the pain had subsided, but the pressure, and added feeling of tightness was probably given from how his knee was still swelling. Not a lot but it was still rather noticeable, it was different from other times that he may have had something similar had happened.

“So, tell me what’s going on.” Hodge gestured to Alec wanting to pretty much know what he was here. Wasn’t it already oblivious as to why Alec was here? Trying to keep his temper from blowing over, Alec tried to talk about it. “Follow up from the er visit I had after the homecoming game.” Which Hodge had nodded along with, as he was looking over Alec’s medical records. “Any changes?” There were a few, like how there was still a dull ache or about the pressure feeling accompanied with the tight feeling around his knee. 

“A few, but I don’t think it’s anything serious I just think it’s how it’s healing.” Alec said, trying to hope that any news that Hodge gave him would be good, but he wasn’t trying to hold out hope in it. “Well, how about you lie back and let me have a look.” Alec nodded, as he laid back onto the table. He was chewing on his lip, trying to keep his thoughts from going places. Hodge hadn’t exactly said anything bad at least not yet anyways and nor had he said anything good. 

His eyes staring up at the ceiling, the light was bright—but it made him think of Magnus and himself on a stage. They were dancing their hearts out grinning and laughing at one another. Just as Alec caught Magnus much like how Johnny had caught baby at the end of Dirty Dancing—Hodge pushed down onto Alec’s knee causing him to bolt into an upright position. “Stoop.” Alec whines as he pushed at his doctors hand. He was on the verge of tears with that. “Hmm.” Was all Hodge said at first as he jotted down something in Alec’s file. It had Alec curious but said nothing. “So, I think we should get another X-ray, and maybe an mri of your knee.” Alec nodded not really sure what was going on, but he had to trust Hodge here—as he was the doctor. 

“You’re other scans were to distorted by the swelling to see much of anything. So we’re gonna repeat the process now—a…” Hodge trailed off for a second as he was talking, “A week out there’s still some swelling but it’s came down.” Alec sort of wished Iz was there, but mom needed her to take Max to kartate as Alec couldn’t exactly. Alec knew for certain that she’d be able to make sense of what Hodge said, dumbing it down for him. 

Somewhere between listening to Hodge talk about the plan of action was gonna be, and in his thoughts. They’d drifted away somewhere. Somehow somewhere again Alec’s thoughts had wandered off towards Magnus, a flush was on his cheeks. Sort of embarrassed, but it wasn’t exactly like Hodge could see his face. Because his head was bowed, and in a sitting position looking at his knee. Overwhelmed with this bummed sensation, all he wanted was to get in the studio with Magnus and dance. It wasn’t just training that Alec wanted to do, but Alec wanted to have a literal routine with Magnus. One of similar nature that related to the movie—not just any movie but Magnus’ favorite one. It was the one they’d just watched the other day, and who could count the amount of times Magnus had watched it after. 

“Alec?” Was what his mom said, because Alec hadn’t even realized that his appointment was over. Looking at the paperwork in hand, and then to his mom. She was far more responsible with in than what he would be with it. “I’m fine mom.” Straighten his back and tried to give an uplifting smile. “Doctor Starkweather just wants to repeat some tests and what not, but otherwise he says I’m okay.” She nodded with a small smile. 

“Can we go home now..” Maryse nodded and didn’t say much after that. The ride home was quiet, Alec texted Magnus.

_ Sorry about leaving without saying bye. - A _

_ Darling it’s okay - M _

_ Everything go okay? _

Alec didn’t know exactly what to say, but he also didn’t want Magnus to worry.

_ Yeah, it’s all good. - A _

Even though it actually wasn’t all that much, but again he didn’t want to worry Magnus. At least not until after the tests. 

***

Isabelle was home alone with Max, Alec currently out as he agreed to drive their parents to the airport as the two of them were going go on a business trip and truth be told, Izzy was kind of glad to be finally home alone for a little bit without having to listen to their constant fighting. After Alec's injury it had only gotten worse and deep inside Izzy knew that it wasn't going to end pretty. She was the most afraid for Max because he was the youngest and wouldn't take the news of a possible divorce very well.

While Max was up in his room reading his favorite comic books, Isabelle was in the living room watching TV and enjoying some peace and quiet, but her mind kept wandering to Alec. He was claiming that his recovery was going well, but even though he wasn't using the crutches anymore, she could see him limping when he thought no one was watching him. He claimed he wasn't in pain, but he wasn't fooling Isabelle. And having to listen to Robert's constant remarks about the injury didn't help either.

Izzy sighed and started switching through the TV channels, but in the end she gave up as she couldn't find anything smart to watch. She was about to text Simon to invite him over, but then there was a knock at the door and Isabelle groaned and rolled her eyes, slowly going over to the door, looking through the peephole and her eyes widened when she saw Lydia Branwell standing there in front of the door and she let out a happy scream. Her and Lydia weren't exactly best friends, but they got along pretty well and after months of having not seen her it was amazing to finally see her again. Izzy quickly unlocked the door and Lydia happily smiled when she saw Izzy.

“Izzy!” said Lydia happily and Isabelle quickly gave her a tight hug and then pulled back, happy. Alec and Lydia had broken up, but from what Isabelle understood it was a mutual agreement they made since Lydia was to go to the college and neither of them saw any future where their relationship was headed. Things were a bit awkward, but there was no hostility and Izzy was happy about that.

“It's so good to see you!” said Izzy and then laughed. “God, it's been so long. Please, come inside. I don't want you to freeze your ass off,” said Isabelle and Lydia nodded in agreement, stepping inside of the house and was filled with bittersweet memories as she made her way into the living room.

“Tell me about it, it's been far too long,” said Lydia and followed Isabelle into the kitchen when the other signed her to join her. “How is everyone?” she then asked and Isabelle shrugged.

“Good, for most parts,” said Izzy and then went to the counter. “Want some hot chocolate to warm up?” she asked and Lydia nodded. “What brings you here?” she then asked and Lydia shrugged.

“Well I'm in town for the holidays, so I had to come and visit,” said Lydia and Izzy smiles as she was making them two cups of hot chocolate. 

“Well, that's great,” said Izzy. “How's college?”

“Fun, but a lot of pain in the ass too. My roommate is horrible,” she complained. “How's school over here? My dad isn't giving you all a hard time, is he?” asked Lydia with a snort and Izzy waved off.

“Of course not,” said Izzy and started giggling. After she was done with the hot chocolate, she brought two cups over to the table and handed one to Lydia, sitting down next to her. 

“Thanks,” said Lydia, blowing on her drink to cool it off and took a small sip of it, quickly regretting the decision of agreeing to drink something Izzy made. Right, the girl was a sweetheart, but kitchen was her enemy. “Home alone?” she asked after a while. “Where's Alec?” 

Izzy watched Lydia for what seemed like forever, “Uh, no Max’s up in his room.” Though besides him she was alone. “As for Alec, he took mom and dad to the airport. Some lawyer conference or something.” She waved off holding her own hot chocolate. Trying to cool it some before sipping it, so it was sitting on the counter. 

What Iz really wanted to know was why Lydia wanted to know about Alec. Did her father tell her about the accident? Was that why? Izzy didn’t know, but didn’t exactly know how to ask either. They weren’t a couple and hasn’t been one for over six months. Sure it been mutual, but it still raised questions as to why. 

“How is Alec?” Lydia asked, knowing that Iz would pick up on the concern in her voice. While Lydia didn’t find out about the accident until she landed, and she’d asked about school. Her father had become hesitant to talk about it. Why her father hadn’t told her on their weekly calls. Maybe because he knew she’d want to see Alec for herself? “He’s good.” Was Iz’s reply. Things had gotten awkward. Why? It was probably because she asked about Alec. Break ups were weird businesses, but it wasn’t like Iz didn’t know it been a mutual arrangement. 

They talked about various other things, because talking about Alec had made things weird. Lydia shifted the subject to Max, and how school was going for Iz. That had made Izzy even more tense about some things. There were other things that they talked about before they heard the door. 

“Izzy, I told you to lock the door after we left.” Alec said walking sort of stiffly into the kitchen. Hoping to find something that warm him up. It was freezing, “Hello Alec.” Was what caused Alec to whip around. That wasn’t Izzy’s voice, and it caused his heart to speed up just a tad. Why was Lydia there? 

“Lydia, hello,” said Alec carefully and slowly made his way to the two of them, trying not to limp too much, ignoring the slight pain in his knee, but it was obvious on his face that it hurt, Izzy wanting to tell him to sit down, but Alec was quicker than her. “What, um, what are you doing here?” asked Alec and then looked at Isabelle

“I’m in town for the holidays, so I decided to come by,” said Lydia, deadly silence falling in between them. Yes, this was awkward. Beyond awkward and Izzy knew it was her cue to leave.

“I, um, I’ll go check up to Maxie,” said Izzy, quickly took her cup of hot chocolate, mouthed Alec  _ good luck _ and then quickly left the kitchen as she didn’t want to be in a the way of something. Who knew, maybe those two needed some privacy to talk about some more personal stuff. 

As Izzy was gone, Alec and Lydia were just staring at each other for a while. “So,” said Alec and Lydia let out an awkward laugh.

“So,” she said and Alec rubbed the back of his neck, slowly limping over to the table and he sat down, because he needed to get his hurt leg some rest. He was out and about that day, so it hurt more than usually, letting out a small moan of discomfort. “It’s… been a while,” she then said and Alec nodded, agreeing with that. Indeed, it had been a while.

“Yeah,” stammered Alec and gave her a little smile. “How have you been?” he then asked and Lydia shrugged. 

“Good. And busy,” said Lydia and made a small pause, biting on her lower lip. “I’ve… sort of met someone,” she then added and Alec looked up at her, slowly nodding, but he didn’t know how to react.

“That’s, um, good, yes,” said Alec and Lydia smiled a little bit.

Was she telling him that to see if he got jealous? They hadn’t been together in over six or seven months. “What about you, Alec?” Everything seemed to slow down with the question. But, Alec could hear the beat of his heart in his ears. 

What was Alec suppose to say, yes? Maybe? Alec didn’t know. “No,” It was a lie, but it wasn’t far from the truth either. Alec doubt that Magnus felt the same way? Right, there was no way Magnus Bane was into Alec. Magnus hated jocks, but they got along okay. At least he thought they did. 

“I’m sorry.” Was what Lydia said, why was she sorry because he hadn’t found anyone else. Confused, as Alec was. Had Lydia came here with the intent of telling him that she’d moved on? It had been the more or less reason why they’d broken up. Their relationship was…

Alec couldn’t exactly find words for it, at least not to describe it. Innocent, maybe? They had hardly done anything besides kiss, in the six months they’d been together. “No, it’s okay,” said Alec and shrugged. “I’m happy you moved on,” he then said and Lydia gave him a little, awkward smile and then looked over at his leg.

“Yeah,” said Lydia and then deadly silence fell in between them, Alec’s eyes going to the mug that was on the table and looked at Lydia.

“Not gonna finish that?” he asked.

“Oh, um,” stammered Lydia and rubbed the back of her neck. “I’m full, I can’t really-”

“Ah, Izzy made it for you,” said Alec and Lydia slowly nodded, but still tried to remain polite. That made Alec crack up, leaning back in his chair as he was laughing, shaking his head, because  _ man _ , this was hilarious. “First week at home and already almost poisoned. I’m so sorry,” said Alec and laughed again, Lydia cracking up as well, but then their laughter had died out when they looked at each other.

For a split moment it felt like old times. Them, alone, laughing. No awkwardness. But then it was back and Alec huffed under his breath. “It’s good to see you, Alec,” said Lydia with a sad smile. “I’ve really missed you,” she then said and Alec gave her a little nod.

“Yes, same. It’s good to see you again, Lydia,” said Alec and let out a small moan of discomfort when he moved his leg.

“Does it hurt a lot?” asked Lydia, but then stopped talking when Alec’s eyes found hers and she quickly looked down. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pry… I’ve heard about what happened when I landed, I just… If you don’t wanna talk about it, I completely understand-”

“No, it’s okay,” said Alec. 

Even though really is wasn’t all that okay, his knee was messed up. Probably more than what Alec would want to say. Alec was being pretty pessimistic about knee, and the recent colder weather wasn’t helping his joint. Then there was the appointments he had next week, for the MRI and CT. If it was just a sprain, and the pain was all in Alec’s head? Like a physical reputation of how Alec felt about everything in his life.

Maybe it was all just mental. His eyes had fluttered closed for the second as he tried to push away how he felt. Almost forgetting Lydia was there. “Earth to Alec?” He heard her say, a blush crept over his cheeks.

Before Alec could say anything the front door busted open! “YOOOOO!!” An inward groan ran through Alec’s mind as Jace yelled. The only reason he did, was because Jace knew that their parents were there and wouldn’t be. So…God, only knew what was going through that boy’s head. 

“Where is everyone?!” Jace asked rather loudly, because it was Jace. The House was rather quiet, Izzy was upstairs with Max because she’d been a traitor leaving him with Lydia. Things were awkward, to say the least. Not that Alec and her had left things awkward when they broke up. They just hadn’t talked in the last few months. She was probably was busy with school, much like himself besides with football and then adding dance to everything. 

Lydia was just shaking her head, had she thought Jace had grown up in the last few months. “Were in here, Jace.” Alec called out rolling his eyes, had Jace just came into the house more he’d eventually find everyone. “Ooi!! Duuuude! We’re gonna throw a party!!” He grinned, as he walked into the kitchen. A party Alec’s eyes bugged out of his head, “Um no were no.” Looking at Jace, “We so are!” Jace watched Alec shake his head again with a no. “Fine party pooper! Oh hi Lydia! I am then.” Jace grinned, “You should come Lydia! It’ll be fun!” Before running over to the stairs, “Good seeing you.” He tossed back. 

“IZZY! We’re throwing a party!” Jace yelled up the stairs. 

***

With their parents out of the town and with Max staying over at his friend’s house, Madzie, the teenagers had the house all to themselves to throw the party. While the others were beyond excited, Alec wasn’t really that much into it, but he decided to play along, because what else could he do? Well, that, and he was more interested in the party when Izzy said that she was inviting Magnus as well, Alec wearing a little excited smile when he heard Izzy talking with Magnus on the phone, feeling excitement rising within him, but that soon died out when the house started to get filled up with other teens, Magnus nowhere to be seen. At least not quite yet.

So, Alec was sitting in the living room, not having fun at all as he was chugging down his second cup of beer and he looked around the room. Everyone except for him were having fun and he looked down, feeling awkward. He didn’t belong there in the middle of the others, some getting drunk, cheering on as Simon decided to show up with his guitar and was playing one of the songs that Alec didn’t really know. However, he noticed one thing that was quite amusing to him; the way Izzy was acting around Simon.

Lately, things were kind of tense between them and Alec could only roll his eyes and laugh at the two of them. The two of them were both crushing on each other, especially Simon; his crush on Izzy was so obvious, yet his sister didn’t seem to notice it. So because of that, Simon decided to distance himself a bit from Isabelle and was spending more time with his new friend, Clary. Jace didn’t mind it, but Izzy sure did, glaring at the two of them as they started chatting when Simon was done with a song and if looks could kill both, Clary and Simon would drop dead. Izzy was  _ so _ jealous, Alec snorting and he shook his head, taking another sip of his drink and he wrinkled his nose.

In his humble opinion, beer was disgusting, but hey, at least with the cup in his hands, he looked like he belonged there. Somehow. He was only happy that Lydia didn’t seem to show to the party and he huffed under his breath. It had been good running into her, but just like he imagined, things were very awkward and a part of him missed what he and Lydia had. But the more he thought about it, the more he realised it was just a  _ friendship. _ Nothing more than that. With occasional kissing. 

Alec pulled out his phone when it buzzed and his heart went up to his throat when he saw that he had a text from Magnus, telling him that he was going to be a bit late to the party and that seemed to cheer Alec up, grinning like an idiot as he was writing a text back to Magnus. The smile on his face attracted attention from someone and Alec almost had a heart attack when someone suddenly sat down next to him. Lydia. Alec’s eyes widened and a flush crept upon his face.

“Who are you texting?” asked Lydia and Alec gulped. So she decided to show up after all. Great. Because Alec didn’t respond and only flush, Lydia smiled and looked at Alec’s phone. “Is it a new girlfriend after all?” she asked and her eyes widened a little bit. “Magnus?” she asked and looked up at Alec. “Who’s-”

“No one,” said Alec quickly, feeling his heart falling to the pit of his stomach and he quickly tucked his phone back into his pocket. “Doesn’t really matter,” he then said and Lydia narrowed her eyes. She wasn’t a fool; she knew what a smile like that meant. The more she started to think about it, the more things started making sense and when a particular thought popped into her mind, her jaw dropped. Well, it hadn’t been the first time she thought about it, it crossed her mind more than once when she and Alec were a thing. 

“Alec,” said Lydia and Alec tensed up. “You don’t need to hide things from me. Is Magnus your boy-”

“No!” said Alec quickly and his heart dropped. He knew what Lydia was going to ask, but he wasn’t going to allow her finish her question. He decided to pretend he didn’t know what Lydia meant. How he felt. How his heart raced when he looked at Magnus, who he flushed when he smiled at him. Nope. It wasn’t happening.

“Alec, it’s okay if-” she started again, but Alec interrupted her.

“You know nothing,” said Alec, feeling defensive and he stood up. “Just… leave me alone,” he then said and slowly headed away from her, deciding he needed a refill of his drink. Oh, yeah, with Lydia being there and asking questions like that, he was going to need a lot of alcohol.

While Jace had been able to get someone to get a keg, how he done that Alec didn’t exactly know. Right now, beer wasn’t going to do this job. Not after that. 

Yes, that awkward.. realization that Lydia had came up with. 

That he was gay, that he was dating Magnus Bane. 

That was one rumor Alec had been fighting all year long, because of Camille and Sebastian and to have Lydia try and say he was, it..

Had the panic raising in his chest, causing him to shake. Because the realization was—

Someone other than  _ him _ knew. 

Hell, Alec didn’t even know. Then again.. 

He _knew,_ but denying it. Lydia, she _knew,_ because she saw him grinning over texting Magnus? With those thoughts, Alec squeezed his eyes closed, and trying to calm himself, because there was no denying that _she_ knew. With that Alec made his way to his Robert’s liquor cabinet, which was inside his father’s study. Only Alec knew exactly where the key was hidden, and after everything in the past ten minutes. Beer wasn’t going to cut, how he was feeling. Large bodies of people, such as parties spiked his anxiety. Then with what just happened with his ex-girlfriend. He was in full blown panic, but this was Alec Lightwood. He knew exactly how to school how he was feeling on the outside, but on the inside.. Alec was a mess. 

Upon unlocking the cabinet and grabbing the first bottle Alec saw. It was some sort of whiskey? Maybe bourbon? Alec didn’t know nor did Alec actually care. He needed something strong, something to drown away  _ those  _ feelings. There was… He couldn’t.. no. Shaking his head before opening whatever was in his hand and turning it up. 

The burn, and tight disgusted face he had on his face now as he swallowed. But that didn’t really stop him as he took another sip and another one after that, hoping that that would make his troubled mind to feel at ease.

***

Magnus felt strangely giddy inside as he made his way to the Lightwood house and he almost couldn’t suppress back the growing smile on his lips. When Izzy called him that there was going to be a party, he was elated and he was more than happy to say yes, that he was going to join them. Firstly, he had nothing better to do. Secondly, that was somehow make him forget about how awkward things still were between him and his two friends and finally, and most importantly, he’d get to spend time with  _ Alexander.  _

Yes, it was stupid he was getting so excited to spend some time with the guy he was crushing on, but still, he couldn’t help it. Sure, he was getting his hopes up for nothing, but still. It was just an innocent and silly crush, which he wasn’t going to allow to grow any more than that, so why not enjoy the moment while he could? Alec was a fun guy to hang around, if he was in a good mood, so why not? 

When he came to the party, he firstly located Isabelle and he went to greet her as she was the one who invited him, but she didn’t seem in a good mood. She didn’t say what was bothering her, but he could see her glaring at Simon talking to Clary and he almost snorted. Was she… jealous? She totally was! It was obvious that Simon was crushing on her and she was crushing on him, but the two were completely oblivious. It was kind of… adorable. As Izzy left him all alone, he decided to go see where Alexander was, his heart making a jump when he saw him. Talking to someone. To Lydia.

His ex-girlfriend.

Magnus’ heart sunk a little bit, but then he took in a deep breath. Seeing Alec talk to his ex-girlfriend bummed him out a little bit, but then again, she  _ was _ an ex. So it was probably nothing more than just talking and from the looks of it, Alec was quite awkward as he was trying to get out of the conversation. Magnus narrowed his eyes and huffed under his breath as Alec suddenly walked away from Lydia. It looked like he was panicking and just as he was about to go after him, Lydia came to him, stopping Magnus and he forced himself not to roll his eyes at her.

“Lydia darling, hello..” Trying to bite down the bitter taste of jealousy he was feeling. 

***

_ Where was Magnus?  _ Was what Alec was thinking sort of drunkenly. Then again after what happened with Lydia, would it be a good idea to be around Magnus. Especially with how raw his feelings were? Which that was also why the bottle was more than half empty already. 

A drunken grin broke out onto Alec’s features, even as prudent as Alec could be—what he was about to do, no one would have expected from him. It was probably more the liquor he was consuming than anything else. 

His home was so crowded with people, it would be easy to tell if Magnus had came in and he  _ missed  _ him. Just how many people at Jace and Izzy invite? There was no way they knew this many people, it looked like their whole school was inside their home, even some trickling outside around their pool. 

“SIMOOOOON!” Alec called out as soon as his eyes landed on Simon, whose eyes grew big at Alec who had just thrown his arm around this person. Tilting the bottle her had back again, the burn had long but since faded as Alec grinned.

Simon was gaping at Alec and staring at Clary, who was trying to keep from laughing. Alec’s eyebrow rose looking at Clary, “W-h-(hiccup)at’s so funnnny, Ah-Fray?” This time laughing at his own bad joke. 

“Nothing.” She smirked and hiding it behind her hand. Alec arched his eyebrow at her, before turning his attention back to Simon. 

“Si—SI-siiiimoooon.” He giggled, and if it wasn’t for Alec holding onto Simon. Simon was thinking that they’d both fall. “Your name sounds like one of those things.” Slurring his words slightly, “Not the things that have the yellow mouse, but you know those ones?” Hell, what was Alec talking about. This was stuff that Izzy and himself liked? Did that mean that Alec watched the same things. “Digimon?” It was the only thing that sounded like his name. “Yeah that. I wanna be Alecmon..” Taking another sig from the bottle in his hand.

Simon looked at Clary pretty much begging for some help. “Alec, hand Clary the bottle.” There wasn’t much left in it after the last drink. 

“Simon. Simooon! SIMONN?!” Alec chanted with a grin. 

“Ya, Alec..” he asked looking around for Izzy or someone to pass Alec off too. It was freaking Simon out just a tad. That was because if anyone knew the sober Alec, they knew he wasn’t this friendly.

“Do you know that song, uhh what’s the name of it??” Talking aloud to himself rather drunkenly. “It’s in a movie.” Magnus would know, but where was Magnus. Alec was getting a tab emotional wondering where Magnus was, because he figured he’d be here by now. Hell, the song Alec was thinking of was from Magnus favorite movie.. He just didn’t know the name.. 

“Do you know any lines from it?” Simon had asked, and Alec nodded. 

“I’ve had the time of my lifee..” Slurring some of the words, “It’s (hiccup) all I know..at least from what of it stands out.” Alec grinned, supporting himself against Simon for balance, because strangely enough the room started spinning. Huh, how did that happen? He giggled at that and then looked at Simon. “So do you know the song or not?!” asked Alec, Simon slowly nodding.

“It’s from the movie Dirty Dancing, isn’t it?” asked Simon and Alec’s face brightened.

“Yes, that’s it,” said Alec, tapping Simon’s back a lot too hard for the other teen’s liking and Simon gave him an annoyed look, but said nothing. “So, Simon, may man,” asked Alec, slurring his words and he hiccupped, grinning to himself and he then straightened himself, attempting to stand on his own. “Can you do your thing… you know the...” he said as he was searching for the word, but he ended up just gesturing in the air, imitating playing of guitar and he ended up stumbling forward, Clary quickly catching him before he could fall. 

“Watch it,” said Clary as she was laughing. Drunk Alec was hilarious.

“Ooo, Fray… I’ve never noticed how  _ orange _ your hair is,” said Alec, holding a strand of Clary’s hair and he giggled. “You’re-you’re like a carrot,” he then said and started laughing at himself, wrapping an arm around Clary, the red-head laughing like crazy as Alec looked at Simon. “So, Simon, we on? We gonna get this party started,” said Alec loudly, cheering himself on and Simon’s jaw dropped, but he agreed in the end. 

And thus, Alec’s little concert was in full motion. 

**

Watching as Lydia walked away, just something wasn’t sitting right about the conversation they’d just had. What did she mean about hurting who? Shaking his head at how vague she had been about the whole thing.

Now where was Alexander?

Maybe Izzy would know, or even Jace? This was their party, and you would think they’d be somewhere where you could see them as well. The Lightwood’s home was massively large, and he’d only been inside of it one other time. That time had brought back a lot of unpleasant memories for himself. Especially when he’d return to retrieve his phone, only to see Alexander’s father throw a vase at him.

Alec was trying to sing the song the best way he could; he was drunk and he didn’t really remember it. All he knew was that Magnus’ voice sounded amazing when he sung it the time they watched the movie. He was slurring the lyrics, going off tune by a lot, but it didn’t matter. It didn’t matter if he was practically shouting into the mic, no. He was having fun and he was hoping that his song was going to attract Magnus. And who knew! He was right, because not too soon after he saw Magnus.

Magnus heard something that sounded like his name, but wasn’t sure where it came from. It had him looking around, until he heard it again. It had broke his thoughts about the last time he’d been inside the Lightwood home. 

“MMMMMMAGNUSSSS!!” It had gotten eerie quiet before he heard his name. Actually Magnus almost didn’t make it out at how slurred it sort of sounded. If it hadn’t been for whoever had been up singing butchering one of his favorite songs, and Izzy had said Simon was good.

Magnus then turned around and his eyes widened when he saw just who was calling out for him. It was Alec; he finally found him at last and apparently, someone was hammered as fuck. His cheeks were flushed as he was happily waving over to him, signing him to come closer, looking like an excited bunny. Ducking his head down, Magnus slowly made his way over to Alec and he realised it then that it was no other than Alexander who had been butchering his favourite song before.

“Magnus, come here,” said Alec, hiccuping, waving again and Simon didn’t really know what to do. Keep playing? Stop? Alec wasn’t steady on his fit and he drunkenly giggled when Magnus started coming closer to him. Magnus was so pretty! “Mags,” purred Alec into the mic loudly and Magnus chuckled at the nickname. Okay, drunk Alec was adorable. 

Getting too excited when he saw Magnus going closer to him, Alec attempted to go over to him, but ended up stumbling over his own two feet clumsily and Magnus quickly wrapped an arm around Alec and pulled him up, keeping him from falling. “I’ve got you,” said Magnus and Alec giggled.

“Oops, how c-clumsy of me,” said Alec, not realising he was still speaking into the mic. But, Alec wasn’t done yet. Oh, no, no! He needed to share with others how amazing Magnus was. “Listen everyone,” announced Alec and frowned when he saw that others weren’t listening. “I said listen!” he said loudly and then grinned dopely when he looked at Magnus. 

“Alexander, maybe you shouldn’t...” started Magnus, trying to tell Alec that it wasn’t a good idea to be oversharing when he was in this state. 

“Shh, I’ve got this. I know what I’m doing, I’m a pro… trust me,” said Alec and clumsily winked. “This guy right here is  _ amazing! _ He’s better than MJ!” announced Alec and then his eyes lit up when he looked at Magnus. “Oh, you should show them your skills!” he said and Magnus went red in the face when he saw others looking at him.

“Someone take the mic away from him,” said Magnus, because Alec clearly wasn’t going to listen to him and much to his luck, Simon came to the rescue, taking the mic away from Alec, who was now pouting.

“You suck, Simon,” said Alec and Magnus started laughing as he tried to get Alec somewhere else. He already had said too much and didn’t want the other to embarrass himself in front of others even further. 

“Alec, let’s go somewhere else,” said Magnus. 

Having moved away from where Simon was performing, and having gotten Alec away from the mic. Magnus felt his cheeks cooling down, as well as less stares. “I can walk you know.” A stubborn Alec said, as he pulled from Magnus arm around his waist. Only to have stumbled backwards with a giggle. 

“Whoa there big brother.” Izzy smiled lightly, as she pushed Alec back up right.

“Everything okay here?” She asked as her eyes cast sideways towards Alec as she then looked to Magnus again. 

“Everything’s great Iz!” Alec giggled, not wanting to focus on what was actually bothering him. He wanted to have fun with Magnus, it was a party—and funnily enough. Alec was in a party mood, though he’d been against the party idea, until Iz said something about inviting Magnus. 

“Dance with me.” Alec’s drunken smile as he held out his hand to Magnus. Alec swayed a little bit on his feet, but both Iz and Magnus were there. “Y’guys know imma ‘kay right.” He stumbled over a few of the words looking at the two of them. Still waiting on Magnus to take his hand. 

“I-” said Magnus as he didn't know what to do really. Sure, dancing with Alexander sounded more than perfect, but Alec was drunk and there already were rumours about them. He didn't really want to add fuel to that fire for Alec's sake, but Alec's puppy eyed look got to him. “Maybe some other time,” said Magnus in the end and looked down.

“Don't-don't be a party pooper, Magnus,” whined Alec and took Magnus’ hand into his own, yanking him clumsily closer. “C'mere. We gotta dance! It's a party,” said Alec and then his heart broke when he saw that Magnus didn't seem to look too keen on the idea. “Oh,” said Alec, his lower lip shaking. “You don't wanna dance with me,” he added and fought back the tears.

Magnus was tempted to laugh, because Alec's mood swings really were adorable. But now that he said it that way, he really couldn't say no to him, could he? “Of course I want to dance with you,” said Magnus and looked up at Izzy, who was cracking up. She hadn't seen Alec like this and a part of her was amused, the other worried. Alec only drank when something was bothering him.

“Really?” asked Alec happily. “Then we gotta dance!” said Alec and took Magnus’ hand into his again, dragging him to where people were dancing.

He was watching Alec shimmy and—okay what was he doing? Those are dance  _ moves _ . His thought, as he watched Alec dance. “Quit standing there watching  _ me _ , and dance with me.” Alec muttered, casting a drunk shy look..

There was a grin that broke onto Alec’s face, and he didn’t really think about how it looked. He saw some many other doing it too, as Simon has stepped off stage sometime between taking the mic from him.. There was some hip-hop beat playing.. It had a bunch of people doing that—weird butt pop thing. What was it called? A grin as he was watching another girl and who she was dancing with doing it. 

“Alexander..” He heard Magnus say, but it didn’t stop him. Alec was in a fit of giggles trying to mimic the girls on the other side of him. Magnus was just staring for a moment or so, wide-eyed until Alec perked his butt all the way out and he started laughing like crazy and Alec frowned as he looked around.

“Why a-are you laughing?” asked Alec, pouting, speech slurred and he hiccuped as he went back to studying those girls twerking and he hummed. Maybe he wasn’t doing it right? So, he tried again, that time looking even more ridiculous and Magnus was laughing like crazy at that point. Alec looked… Hmm. There wasn’t really a word in the dictionary to describe how he looked; ridiculous, adorable and somehow he managed to pull off looking handsome despite all the odds.

“Alexander, what are you doing?” asked Magnus in the end.

“Twerking,” announced Alec proudly. “I’m doing a good job, right?” he asked happily and Magnus couldn’t say no, could he? So, Magnus lied and nodded. 

“Of course, you’re a natural, Alexander.”

“I know, right?” asked Alec. “Am I sexy, Magnus?” he then asked out loud and Magnus froze, quickly walking to him and Alec frowned. “Magnus, I asked a question,” said Alec, but Magnus didn’t answer, so Alec continued to sulk right there in the middle of others and in the end, Magnus had to nod to please the drunk jock, who smiled brightly. 

“Can we now go somewhere else to-”

“No,” said Alec, shaking his head. “I wanna dance with you,” said Alec, hiccuping again and only stopped scowling at Magnus when the other one finally started moving to the beat of the song. “See how much fun we’re having,” said Alec and waggled his eyebrows. 

“That we are,” said Magnus, smiling, because it was kind of fun to be dancing with Alec. Well, if they could call that even dancing. But even so, it was fun and he couldn’t stop smiling as he watched Alec flail his long arms around, hitting a few people next to them, but he didn’t care as he had eyes only for Magnus, he didn’t see other people.

When the music turned a bit more slower, and Alec seemed to realize it. A blush had creep onto his cheeks, because it took everything in him now to look directly at Magnus. Who was sort of grinning and had been shaking his head at himself. His heart was racing, wondering what  _ they  _ should do now. He was a bit more sober than what he’d been probably thirty minutes prior to them dancing.

Feeling sort of embarrassed about everything he’d done, since Lydia caught him. It wasn’t as if there was anything wrong, it just.. Speaking about it, thinking about  _ it _ . Besides thinking and speaking to Magnus.. It made the idea of him being…  _ that..  _ So much more real.. With his head bowed and luckily enough that Magnus probably wouldn’t see. It was overwhelming, he felt so much  _ for _ Magnus. 

Alec didn’t exactly know how to feel… “Alec?” It was Magnus’ voice filled with concern.. “What’s wro..” He wasn’t drunk enough to deal with this. With his heart racing, not realizing he raced away from Magnus. Who was only showing concern, but could steal his breath away so easily.

His feet had sent him off to his father’s office again. Right where the strong stuff was, at the party it was mostly the keg, and other beers that people had managed to get. Why was he such a coward? Being with Magnus was different, it just felt like it was just them.. 

Yet he cowardly ran away, again. 

Same as Alec had with Lydia, and now with Magnus. Emotions were weaknesses as Robert would say—or  _ something  _ to that effect. 

“Alexander!” He called as Alec had been too quick for him to reach to stop him from running off. What had happened? It felt Magnus standing there for a second as he tried to go over what might’ve happened. Nothing came to mind, but the look had been similar to the one Alec had when Magnus came in and saw him with Lydia.

Alec was panicking around his father’s office, determined to get some more liquor inside of him, because it helped him before. He didn’t want to think about how he felt about Magnus nor the talk he had with Lydia before. No, he wanted to forget, to just focus on something else. It was so much easier, so he quickly reached for one of the bottles and opened. Robert was going to be pissed, but he didn’t care. He just needed to get some peace, his chest feeling heavy as he finally, finally realised how he truly felt for Magnus.

He liked him. The feelings were so strong that it made it hard for him to breathe and tears went into his eyes as he puffed his cheeks. Just as he was about to start chugging down the alcohol again, Magnus quickly stepped inside, Izzy telling him where she saw Alec heading to and he wasted no more time. The look on Alec’s face told him that it wasn’t wise to leave him alone, so he acted quickly and went over to Alec, snatching the alcohol away from him.

“You’ve had enough,” stammered Magnus and Alec gave him an angry look.

“Give the bottle back to me,” said Alec and reached for the bottle, but Magnus put it away, keeping it from his reach and he then glared at the other one, who had worry written all over his face, Alec looking down as he felt his heart hammering again. That tight feeling in his chest. The need to hug Magnus. It was all there and he tried to hold it back, tears of frustration shining in his eyes and Magnus gently touched his shoulder.

Magnus hated this; seeing Alexander in such shattered state. “Alexander,” said Magnus softly. “Hey, what happened...” he started, but then went quiet when he saw tears rolling down on Alec’s cheeks and he bit onto his lower lip. “Is it because of Lydia?” asked Magnus, not holding back. He was worried and he didn’t give a fuck. For once, he wanted Alec to be clear with him. He was hiding something that was troubling him. 

“Lydia, she...” stammered Alec and felt his stomach making a flip. “No, she… I mean,” he said and shook his head. “It’s nothing, I’m fine, all is fine,” said Alec, wiping away his tears and Magnus stepped in front of him when Alec attempted to leave the room. “Please move,” said Alec with a small voice. “I can’t-”

“Alexander, what is going on?” asked Magnus softly, too softly and Alec dropped his head down. “Something’s bothering you isn’t it?” he asked and Alec looked up, his tear-filled eyes finding Magnus’. “It’s easier when you share the burden with someone else,” said Magnus and Alec opened his eyes.

Alec trusted Magnus and the amount of worry on his face told him that it was okay to tell him what was on his mind. He couldn’t keep it in anymore, the secret… was slowly eating him up alive. But he was afraid. Terrified. He just didn’t know what to do anymore and in the drunken state that he was in, he broke down, hiding his face into his palms  and Magnus made a step closer to Alec, feeling the sudden urge to hug him. To help him in any way and the last time, a hug helped Alec. 

“It’s just so difficult,” stammered Alec and Magnus gave him a look full of compassion. “I just… I don’t know… how to-”

“You know… you can tell me anything,” said Magnus softly and Alec nervously chewed on his lower lip and took in a deep breath. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to, but I just want you to know that I’m here for you. That's what friends are for, right?” said Magnus with a wink, trying to cheer Alec up, but it didn’t work as Alec was preoccupied with thinking.

“I,” stammered Alec and his voice trailed off as his entire body was shaking. “I think I like...” he tried again, but backed away in fear and locked his eyes with Magnus’. 

“Yeah?” asked Magnus softly. 

More tears welled up in Alec’s eyes as he struggled to get air into his lungs, hands clenched in fists out of frustration and he pressed his lips together. However, the need to say what was on his mind was stronger than his fear. “I think I’m gay,” said Alec and then felt chills going down his spine.

Saying it out loud felt so surreal and he looked at Magnus, not allowing himself to breathe. Magnus listened to him in silence, allowing Alec to say what he had on his mind and then he slowly nodded. Alec looked so fragile as his eyes were literally begging him not to judge him or laugh at him. Honestly, Magnus felt choked up himself as well and he slowly made a step closer to Alec, whose lower lip was trembling.

“Alec,” said Magnus softly. “Alexander,” he said again and Alec flinched as he didn’t know what to do. A part of him was frozen in place, the other one wanted to run away. “It’s okay,” said Magnus softly, Alec letting out a hitched breath. Magnus understood Alec well, what he was feeling, what he was going through. Alec had just came out to him and Magnus was so proud of Alec. 

“Really?” was the question that broke Magnus and he wrapped his arms around Alec.

Magnus’ heart was breaking of Alexander and his hand slowly moved up to the back of Alec’s neck and he just nodded. “Of course it is,” said Magnus softly, Alec burying his face into Magnus’ shoulder as tears of relief rolled down his cheeks, swallowing back a sob. It was what he wanted to hear; for someone to tell him it was okay to feel what he was feeling. “I’m so proud of you, Alexander,” he then added and Alec sniffled, slowly pulling back a little bit, but Magnus wouldn’t let go of him.

“I...” he stammered, but he didn’t know what to say, wiping his tears away. “Thank you,” said Alec as that was the only thing he could think of to say and Magnus shook his head.

“No need to thank me,” said Magnus as his hand automatically reached up to wipe Alec’s tears away and Alec gasped when he felt Magnus’ fingers on his cheek. Magnus smiled and then looked up when he saw that Alec was staring at him. “Alec?”

Alec didn’t reply as he slowly leaned closer to Magnus, not thinking what he was doing. All he could focus on was how good it felt being so close to Magnus. How beautiful his eyes were. How much he liked him. He never felt like this for anyone before and he let out a hitched breath, Magnus letting out a little nervous laughter, Alec shuddering when he felt Magnus’ hot breath against his cheek.

Alec’s eyelashes were so long, was what Magnus noticed and his cheeks flushed when he noticed how close they were. He was about to let Alec know that, but as he was about to say something, he was cut off when he felt a pair of lips pressing up against his.

Alec Lightwood had just kissed him.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!
> 
> Anddd we’re back!  
> Hiii! -waves- 
> 
> Anyways life has be crazy and the story wanted to be an ass a little but! We’re finally here!
> 
> The is some possibly trigger warning in this chapter. It’s flashbacks with Magnus. Feel free to skip over it.
> 
> But please don’t kill us!
> 
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> Onto the story!  
> Enjoy!

Where exactly had Thanksgiving break gone?

That whole week had seemed to have flown by far to quickly, but Christmas wasn’t that _far_ away. Senior year was flying by, it was weird just at the mere thought that graduation wasn’t exactly that far away now either. Even if right now Jace, Izzy and himself were grounded until after the new year.

That was mostly because their mother finding out about _Jace’s_ and _Izzy’s_ party that he’d been drug into. If it hadn’t been for being hungover, Alec figured he would’ve been able to get away with no being chucked in with them.. But even after a day of being hungover, he still felt the effects the following day when Maryse returned him.

“Oi! Lightwood!” Wincing as he put to much pressure down onto his leg. Ever since the party his _knee,_ more so than his leg had flared up. Between the weather and probably the overuse—as from what Iz said Alec had been sort of the life of the party. Though with that said some of that evening was still sort of hazy.

“What is it Underhill?” _I’d like to get to lunch._ Knowing that his cheeks sort of pinked up. Mostly because Alec wanted to see Magnus. As Magnus was not actively noticing him? At least not like before break. Had something happened? Iz told him some stuff, and it made sense.. There was other things that were hazy and Alec was still trying to piece together.

It was spotty as it was hazy, but Alec knew he came out to Magnus.. Was that what had Magnus weirded out? “Earth to Alec?” Underhill who was standing in front of him now. Breaking him from his thoughts, and causing Alec to blush at his own embarrassment.

“Um, yeah?” stammered Alec and looked up at Underhill, narrowing his eyes when he saw that it looked like the other had something to tell him, but didn’t know how to start the conversation really. “Theo?” asked Alec and then Underhill snapped out of it when he was spoken to again and he rubbed the back of his neck.

“We need to talk,” said Theodore, because he decided to come clean about what he saw and heard at the game when Alec got injured. The more he was thinking about it, the more it was clear to him that the thing was an _accident_ after all and he tried to mind his own business, but in the end, he couldn’t as the guilt was starting to get to him.

“Okay?” said Alec. “What do you wanna tell me?”

Underhill took in a deep breath. “Um, no… not here,” said Theo as he wanted to be somewhere in private with Alec when he would tell him not in the middle of cafeteria. “Do you have time after school?” he then finally asked and Alec looked at him.

“Yeah, sure.”

“Meet me at the lockers,” said Underhill with a serious voice and Alec narrowed his eyes. Whatever he had to tell him had to be serious as Alec knew that Underhill was a serious guy.  

“Okay,” said Alec and then awkward silence fell in between them.

“Alright, uh see you then.” Alec watched confused as Underhill walked away. _What was that about?_ had been Alec’s first initial thought after Underhill left. But Alec figured that he’d find out later, even if it meant that Alec be somewhat later to watch Magnus practice. That’s if Magnus wanted him to come..

It had been when Alec first stepped into the cafeteria, seeing Izzy and everyone else waving at him. What was weird was Magnus was off over with Raphael, who too had taken to sitting with them as of late. Alec felt a lump form in his stomach and he looked down, feeling his heart falling to the pit of his stomach and he pressed his lips together. He felt horrible about Magnus seemingly avoiding him on purpose, biting into his lower lip.

Yes, he felt lighter now that at least one person knew about how he truly felt, but now Magnus was avoiding him. Was it because of that? Was he weirded out? No, Magnus wasn’t that kind of a person, he wouldn’t just ignore him because he came out to him! Even though his mind was kind of hazed, he remembered Magnus telling him that he was so proud of him for being brave for coming out to him. So, what was it? Did he do something else? His memories were all over the place since that night and he looked down.

Alec chewed on his lower lip and a part of him wanted to stay out of it, but the other one just wanted to come clean about it. He needed to know why Magnus was acting like that and he was for a moment or so just standing there, staring at Magnus and Raphael. Raphael nudged Magnus, who was eating his food and when he saw Raphael pointing at Alec, who was still just standing there, he ducked his head down, a flush on his cheeks as he went back to eating his food.

Magnus wasn’t exactly proud of himself for acting the way he was. He wasn’t avoiding Alexander on purpose, he just… didn’t know how to handle everything that had gone down that day. Yes, Alec had come out to him and he felt horrible for turning his back to him like that. After that kiss, Magnus didn’t know what to think as Alec went back to his giggling state and he just didn’t know how to face Alec in school after that. He _wanted_ Alec to have feelings for him, but he wasn’t sure. For what he knew, it could’ve just been a drunken kiss. Even worse; what if Alec forgot all that had happened?!

Raphael nudged him again and Magnus almost panicked when he saw Alec coming closer to them and he swallowed thickly. He looked up at Raphael, who just shrugged as he didn’t know what was going on with those two. Alec was a stubborn person and he was determined to make things good as they were between him and Magnus… like they were before!

“Magnus,” stammered Alec and Magnus slowly looked up, Alec feeling his cheeks reddening and he then took in another deep breath, determination written all over his face. “Can we, um, talk?” he then asked and Magnus looked over at Raphael, who rolled his eyes, but took his tray and carried it over to Isabelle, Jace and the others, allowing those two to work things out.

“Sure,” croaked Magnus, feeling his heart fasten as he could still feel Alec’s lips on his own, cursing at his own body and he then pressed his lips together. “What’s up, Alec?” asked Magnus and Alec felt his heart sinking.

_Alec_ not _Alexander!_

“Did I do something wrong?” asked Alec, voice heavy worry and Magnus quickly shook his head.

“No, of course not,” said Magnus with a little smile.

“Then why are you avoiding me?” asked Alec and Magnus looked down again.

“I’m not-”

“Yes you are,” said Alec and quickly sat down when he saw looks of the other students on them and he tried to keep calm, not wanting to freak out too much. It was probably just a misunderstanding! “Ever since the party, you’re different… you… I don’t know,” said Alec and Magnus felt his heart breaking just a little bit, because he knew what Alec was thinking. “Is… is it because of what I told you at the party?” asked Alec, holding in his breath and Magnus quickly shook his head.

“No, no,” he said quickly. “It’s not because of that. I told you… it’s okay if you’re-”

“Bullshit,” said Alec, feeling his heart beating hard against his ribcage. “You clearly are bothered by something I did or said… I just… Please don’t avoid me,” stammered Alec and Magnus felt a stab of guilt at his heart. It looked like Alec didn’t remember the kiss, did he? “If I did something wrong… please tell me. Apart for that conversation, I don’t really remember much and I-”

“You did nothing wrong,” said Magnus and scooted a bit closer to Alec. “I promise,” he then said and Alec looked up at him, feeling relieved. “And I meant what I said… I really am proud of you. I would never avoid you because of that. I’m not that cruel,” said Magnus and Alec nodded.

“Then why did you...”

“I just have a lot of things on my plate right now. But none of it is your fault,” said Magnus, kind of lying, but at the same time it was true. Those words reassured Alec into the whole thing and he gave Magnus a little smile, deciding to believe him.

***

When the final bell rang throughout the school, it had been a long while since Alec actually heard it. Mostly because where he’d joined dance. Coach had excused him from attending most practices, a while back. Normally Alec would’ve already left to meet up with Magnus, outside and head to Ms. Loss’ dance studio.

Expect today was a little different, and hoped that Magnus didn’t wait on him. Rubbing the back of his neck at the thought of forgetting to tell Magnus. It made him feel a little bad, but whatever Underhill had to tell him.. It had better be good, because _he_ didn’t want to give Magnus another reason to be upset with him. Even if Magnus said he wasn’t upset, something was off. That much Alec knew, but Alec was afraid it was something he did. Even after lunch and Magnus said that he wasn’t avoiding him.. Alec felt like something happened, but he couldn’t think of what it was..

Besides Magnus, Underhill coming to him saying they needed to meet at the lockers. It was where Alec was, so where was Underhill? Looking both ways down the corridor, and seeing no one. It was odd, even for Underhill who could too be a bit odd.

Why did _they_ need to talk?

The season was over, it was over the night Alec got hurt. Which that had been homecoming, nearly a month ago now. So why was Underhill, just now needing to talk to him? There wasn’t any games, especially as the season had ended, and if they had won that last game, though they hadn’t. They might have been going to the playoffs in their division. That wasn’t how things had gone, it didn’t exactly explain Underhill wanting to talk to him.

Alec looked at the clock and decided that he was going to head over to the dance practice after all if Underhill wasn’t going to show up anytime soon. He huffed under his breath and tucked his hands into his pockets, leaning against the lockers and he closed his eyes. As he closed his eyes, an image snapped in front of his eyes. Him and Magnus. Lips pressed together in a kiss. Alec’s eyes snapped open, but even so… he could swear he could feel Magnus’ lips on his own.

Alec went really face into his face and he quickly shook his head, clearing his mind. What the hell was that? He placed a hand on top of his lips and then took in a deep breath, trying to collect himself a little bit, looking over at the clock again. Much to his luck, someone called out his name, snapping him out of his thinking and he looked to his right, finally seeing Underhill coming closer to him and he put on a forced smile, waving to his friend.

“Yo, Alec,” said Underhill. “Sorry for the long wait,” said the blonde one and rubbed the back of his neck. Truth be told, he almost didn’t come as he almost chickened out. Messing around with Sebastian and Jonathan wasn’t wise, but still… at the end of the day, the guilt was too much for him to handle and he needed to come clean with what he heard before the game started.

Repressing the need to roll his eyes, Alec hadn’t been waiting _for_ the last twenty minutes for Underhill for nothing. Getting right to the point was that Alec wanted, because if it was something important why couldn’t Underhill told him at lunch. “Well?” He was a little miffed that he’d waited twenty minutes after school for Underhill to show up.

Watching Underhill just kind of staring at him wasn’t exactly odd, it was kind of annoying.. “Are we just going to have a staring contest, or are you gonna tell me?” Alec asked seeing Underhill blinking at what he said. “Well, uh.”

This was what Alec had been standing around waiting on? For the _last_ twenty minutes, only to have Underhill looking like he was gonna puke? His made his own stomach churn as he thought maybe Underhill was going to tell him what Alec had took Magnus a few nights ago. Or _maybe_ that Underhill liked him in away that Alec didn’t like them.

Everything was extremely confusing, he had other places to be.. Like watching Magnus practice, even if Alec couldn’t fully dance with him.

“Look, I don’t have time for this.” Alec was annoyed, within good reason to be as he thought. Mostly because of how long it took Underhill to show up. Let alone just telling him whatever it was that Underhill said he _needed_ to tell him. “Either you tell me or I’m leaving.” Because besides trying to help Magnus with some of the younger students. Even while he was still a noob at dance himself, he couldn’t exactly put a lot of pressure onto his knee.

Hopefully Underhill didn’t take what he said to harshly, but the last few days had been rough on him. Especially trying to rack his brain as to way Magnus had been avoiding him.

“It’s just…” Listening to Underhill again stop himself from finishing a sentence.

“Like I said, I have other places to be.” Pushing himself away from the lockers. He wasn’t gonna stick around for this. Not when Magnus was on his own with some of the younger students.

“Alec, wait.” Underhill called out, and Alec looked back with his messenger bag hanging from his shoulder. “Well, Underhill I’ve waited about forty minutes for you to tell me.” The annoyance clear in his voice. “Quit being a chicken and just tell me.” Rolling his eyes as he turned to walk away.

“Well, it’s just I overheard some people the evening of homecoming _talking_ about..” How was he supposed to say it? Underhill was chewing on his lip, “I overheard some people from our team with the rival team talking about you.” A sense of dread washed over Alec. A sick feeling that had made his stomach drop from its place to his feet. “What..” Alec was confused, looking somewhat frightened himself.

There was no way any of what Underhill said was true. While his mind was screaming at him at how it made sense now. Why Jonathan acted as he had that night. 

***

Magnus was in the dance studio, helping some of the younger students in there with the more advanced moves. A part of him was a tad annoyed that it was him, who always had to deal with the lower years, but at the same time it helped him get his mind off the things that had happened as of recently. He really had a lot on his plate, he didn't really lie to Alec before, their drunken kiss not even being the biggest issue that he had been dealing with.

The reason why he was constantly in a bad mood was his father. Asmodeus. Magnus shuddered when he remembered the letter that came and just the thought of seeing his father again at court sickened him down to his stomach. He just wanted to ignore it, just like he had all of his father's previous letters in which he had been begging him for a visit. Magnus _hated_ his father for what he did to him and to his mother. So, no… going to see him was going to take a huge toll on Magnus.

Magnus quickly snapped out of it as a girl was asking him to show her the pirouette and Magnus just absently nodded and showed her the move, sighing again as he looked around. Alec didn't come that day, was what he realised and he bowed his head down, sighing as he puffed his cheeks, shaking his head. He needed to stop thinking about it. The kiss meant nothing. Probably. Magnus didn't know and wasn't going to allow himself to get his hopes up too much.

“Like this?” asked the girl and copied how he did the pirouette before and Magnus nodded, giving her thumbs up.

“Good, yes,” said Magnus and then pressed his lips together. “Just watch your left arm, try to move it a bit more elegant,” he said, the girl nodding and thanking him for the tip, quickly going back to practicing and Magnus sighed again, rubbing the back of his neck as he looked down. Somehow the dance studio felt empty and cold. Funny how much he had changed during the last month and he shook his head, slowly coming with the terms that Alec wasn’t going to come that day. Well. Whatever.

It was why he decided to put on the music on full blast and decided to freestyle it for a little bit, just to get his feelings out, to vent for a little bit. He could feel the others watching and a little smile spread across his face as he jumped up, then as he landed on the floor, did a few turns and skipped over to the other side of the dance studio. The dance floor was his life; his moves were fast and almost seemed kind of angry. It was what Madame Loss noticed straight away and she sighed sadly. She felt for Magnus, but the teen wouldn’t let her near him. Emotionally. Again, he was putting up the walls again and she shook her head. But there was only so much she could do; she couldn’t force him to talk if he didn’t want to.

After the song ended, Magnus was panting and sweating, feeling tired as hell, but also, he felt oddly satisfied, because he had just danced out all of his frustrations and finally reached some sort of an inner peace, which wasn’t going to last a long time. Magnus knew that, but still. It was better than nothing and he went over to his stuff, taking his water bottle out of the bag and took a few big gulps, sitting down as he was trying to even out his breathing. His hair was stuck to his damp forehead, leaning against the wall and he sighed deeply.

What disturbed his peace was when the door of the dance studio suddenly opened and Magnus quickly opened his eyes, surprised, almost shocked to see Theodore Underhill standing in there. And he wasn’t alone. The jock brought Alexander with him, who looked really out of it. His face was pale, he was hyperventilating and to him it looked like the other was in a full blown panic attack, quickly going onto his legs, worried. He didn’t know what happened, but he felt a burning desire to kick ass of the person that did this to his Alexander. Well, not _his._ But still.

“Um, uh Bane..” Underhill spoke taking Alec over to one of the benches lining the wall. Giving Alec a once over, it wasn’t as bad as it had been in his car. Looking sheepishly up at Bane, was staring at him with his arms crossed and unimpressed look.

“Well, what happened.” Magnus trying to regain some compose, because snapping at _this_ jock wasn’t gonna help _his_ Alexander. That much Magnus knew, but first Magnus needed to know why Alec was in the midst of a panic attack.

“You see…” How was he going to tell this, it had set Alec into the state he was in. Theodore was biting his lip and looking guilty. Basically because he sort of was.

Shavoone was trying to stay out of whatever was going on from across the room. She’d been helping one of the girls with her grand plié, who still wasn’t exactly getting it. Watching from her peripheral vision, she watched Magnus’ hands go up, but Magnus never raised his voice.

“Go practice with the other girls, Amanda.” She smiled speaking softly. Shavoone wasn’t sure what was going on, but from the look on Alec’s face it wasn’t helping.. Whatever it was going on.

“Excuse me boys.” Stepping between them looking at Alec, who was still very much in distress. What Alec needed was away from everything going on, “Come on Alec.” She noticed the blank look at Alec gave her, as she offered her hand to him. “It’s going to be okay, whatever it is honey.” Giving him a small reassuring smile as Alec stood being lead away from the boys who probably went back to arguing. As they’d basically forgotten about Alec being there with them. They hadn’t cared how their arguing was effecting Alec.

Shavoone could feel Alec trembling, but wasn’t sure why. As she lead Alec into a kitchen area and had him sit down at the table. “Would you like some tea?” Again Shavoone only got a blank stare when Alec looked up at her. Wherever Alec was she hoped he’d come out of it. Speaking usually helped, even if it wasn’t with her. “Tea, it is.” She have the boy a small smile.

Alec was silently seating on the chair, staring blankly in front of himself, mind completely blank as his thoughts were racing and he couldn’t calm down his body. His hands were shaking, rubbing his cold palms together as he watched the woman making tea and as she looked at him, he quickly looked away, his eyes going to his leg and his heart fell to the pit of his stomach. Sebastian and Jonathan… they… just because he was protecting his sister, they… according to Theo. Shivers ran up his spine and a knot formed in his stomach. He was afraid what else those two were capable of doing.

“Alec,” said Shavoone and the young man almost jumped when she said his name and came closer. She placed her hand gently on top of Alec’s shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to frighten you, I just wanted to ask,” she said. “What kind of tea would you like?”

Alec looked down and shrugged. “Anything’s good,” he managed to say.

“Very well… chamomile tea it is,” said Shavoone and put on a little smile. “It’ll warm you up and calm you down,” she said and Alec gave her a little smile, which quickly faded as she turned back to the counter and he went back to biting onto his lower lip, feeling nervous again. The thing that scared him was what if they went after Izzy again? Sure, his leg was injured… but it was what it was.

“Here you go,” said Shavoone after a while and placed two cups of tea on top of the table and Alec slowly reached over for his own and made a little sip after blowing at it for a few times and then put it back down.

“Thank you,” stammered Alec. “It’s, um, good,” he added and Shavoone let out a little sigh.

“Feeling better?”

Alec shrugged and Shavoone sighed. She really didn’t know what to do as she couldn’t really force the boy into talking. But she also couldn’t let him be alone.

“Do you wish to talk about what happened back then?” asked Shavoone and Alec looked up.

A part of him wanted to talk about it, but not with her. He wanted Magnus. Magnus usually knew how to calm him down and he was nervously playing with his thumbs in his lap. “I,” he started, but his voice trailed off. “Magnus,” he said softly and Shavoone nodded. “Can you… go get him?” he asked with a small voice and looked over to the woman, who gave him a little smile and then nodded.

It was no secret that the two of them had gotten closer. “Sure, honey, I’ll go get him,” she said and Alec gave her a thankful smile. “You can wait for me here, okay?” she asked as she stood up and Alec gave her a little nod. Alec had gotten somewhat calmer, so that made Madame Loss feel a bit better about the whole situation. “Magnus will be here in a second,” she said.

“Thank you,” said Alec for the second time.

“You’re welcome, dear.” Shavoone gave him a smile, before heading back towards the dance studio. What Shavoone hopes was that Magnus could help Alec. She had witnessed the two of them getting closer over the last few months.

They’d started out as completely different people back in September. Complete and utter strangers to one another, besides what Magnus would’ve just called Alec a jock and not associate with him. Alec hadn’t ever seemed the type to care much for social standings, but besides the Alec she saw within her studio. She didn’t know much about him, besides what Luke had said, and even he didn’t know much.  Even after him explaining to her that he’d suggested this idea to his football team, and Alec had seemed to be the only one interested.

It had her thinking about Alec’s first day in the class, and forcing Magnus to help Alec along. But not before that how she’d listened to Magnus complain that he had mostly classes with buffoon jocks.  What had been interesting to watch was, their friendship that seemed to have blossomed between them. Especially when Alec was very far out of his element and in Magnus’.

“Magnus!” She called tilting her head to come inside. What surprised her was that Magnus had waited after everyone had left ten minutes ago. When looking over the classroom she didn’t see that boy that Magnus had been arguing with when she pulled Alec away a while ago. It was only doing more damage to him that it had been good.

Once Magnus looked up at her with him biting his lip. “Come on.” Watching Magnus walk over almost speedily. Shavoone surprised a chuckle, and just shook her head as she followed him back in. He hadn’t asked where Alec was, because Shavoone already knew that Magnus knew. She’d done this a time or two with Magnus.

Somehow Magnus had chased Underhill off right as class was leaving. Being sure that he’d gotten his point across firmly enough that you don’t hide things like Underhill had for what two weeks… And after the guilt of it ate at you, say something. It was like that why Sebastian and Jonathan had so much power, because they knew people wouldn’t say anything against them. They were popular, on the football team. So was Alec, but did he go around making people's lives hell no, and from what Magnus knew of Underhill he didn’t either. He was just a bit of a coward now in Magnus’ eyes.

While Magnus stood there in the doorway of the kitchen looking at how broken _his_ Alexander seemed with the information that Underhill had given him. That news had sent Alexander into a panic attack and had Underhill bring him here.. Why? Even though Magnus had worked out, or felt like he had worked out his own emotional state with what he’d been feeling about the things that had happened before school started back.

Between Alexander’s drunken confession about being gay, as well as their kiss, and his father wanted to see him. “Go over to him Magnus, he asked for you.” Again Magnus nipped at his lip. Because as Magnus moved farther into the kitchen, passed Alec who was deep in his thoughts again it seemed. Magnus watched a little longer, watching Alec stare at the cup of tea before him. “Alexander..” Magnus said softly placing his hand onto Alec’s. Which that had done enough to get Alec to look up at him.

Magnus’ heart clenched looking at his distraught that Alec was again. Before when Alec first came in the studio with Underhill, worry had shot through him, the need to protect Alexander had too. When Underhill had told him what he’d overheard.. It had caused Magnus anguish, and with his own frustrations having bubbles back up. It had him lashing out at Underhill in front of Alec, when Alec had need him.

“I’ll give Alec and you some privacy.” She gave them both a small genuine smile before turning back to head into the dance studio to clean up.

It once Alec knew that Shavoone had left that his compose he managed began to crumble. Alec was already beginning to panic again, everything was too much right now. Behind the tears in Alec’s eyes he could see Magnus, but _fuck._ How was Alec suppose to explain the rest of _this_ to Magnus. There was more that Underhill hadn’t known, and some Magnus did already know a bit. Just not everything. A nervous laugh escaped Alec, as he pulled his hand away from Magnus to wipe his face.

Magnus could see Alec going into panic mode again and he quickly tightened his hold around Alec's hand, showing him that he wasn't going anywhere. That he was there to stay no matter what and that it was okay for Alec to tell him everything. Alexander came out to him so Magnus knew just how much the other one trusted him. “Alexander,” spoke Magnus softly and Alec looked at him, linking their fingers together and Magnus gave him the softest smile ever. “How are you feeling? Better?” he asked and Alec looked down, shrugging.

“Not really,” stammered Alec.

How could he feel any better about any of this? Someone, hurt him. Just so they could prove a point? What had been in it for them? Besides the idea of revenge? Because they assumed that Ale had been the one that told on him.

_Oh god_

How was Alec suppose to tell Magnus? His eyes fluttered upward catching Magnus. Magnus had been the one that told the principal. He didn’t want Magnus to feel responsible for what happened to him. Either way Alec thought about it in the second that it popped into his head.

“Alexander.” Hardly above a whisper watching Alec’s eyes met his own. With a reassuring squeeze of the hand that Alec’s he was still holding. “It’s going to be okay.” Watching Alec’s eyes build with tears that threaten to fall. How was any of this gonna be okay? Once Magnus knew, Alec had a feeling that Magnus would feel responsible for something that was out of his control. This was out of Alec’s control as well. They only evidence they had was what Underhill had overheard in the locker rooms.

Alec let out a shaky breath, trying to find words? A place to start? _Oh god_ , how was he suppose to tell Magnus? That was the main question that roamed all over his mind. Was how was he supposed to do this. Alec could barely look at Magnus without wanting to cry, and be angry. But it wasn’t because of Magnus. He was infuriated with Sebastian and Jonathan, as well as Underhill for waiting so long.

Jonathan for being the creep that he was, and not taking the no for an answer. For making Izzy question her worth, and _her_ confidence. Sebastian had never cared all that much for him, and wanted to be captain since their old coach had named him Captain in sophomore year. But that's besides their old rivalry they still had. With Alec’s injury it had him out of basketball, mainly because of tryouts were happening in a week or so.  It gave Sebastian the advantage there, to be the spotlight.

Jonathan had choosing a wonderful pal to make, especially as much as they both hated him.

“It’s not going to be okay,” stammered Alec and started shaking his head, looking down as he swallowed back his tears and his fingers started shaking as he was gripping onto Magnus’ hand and the other had to fight back his own tears. Seeing Alexander like this was… painful, too painful. He could literally feel his heart crack in half as he saw the tears in Alec’s eyes, afraid to fall and he shook his head.

“Nothing can be so bad that you cannot tell me,” said Magnus and then slowly stood up and walked around the table, going closer to Alexander and he slowly then went down onto his knees and placed his hand on top of Alec’s leg, the jock looking down, his eyes focused on Magnus’ hand. Magnus thought that being closer to Alec would make the situation better, he was desperate to make Alexander talk. “Alexa-”

“It’s just,” stammered Alec as he really didn’t know what to say and Magnus gave him a little smile, then sat on top of his heels and looked Alec into his eyes, trying to let him know that he wasn’t leaving no matter. “Jonathan and Sebastian, they...” stammered Alec and shuddered, Magnus’ eyes darkening and he went into his overprotective mode. Underhill had told him what he overheard the two of them talking and he was beyond pissed again. And to think that Alec had gotten into this state because of _them_ made just Magnus wanna cut their throats.

“What did they do?” asked Magnus, his voice low and he then lifted himself up. Yes, he knew what they did, according to Underhill, but he needed to hear the entire story from Alec himself. “Alexander,” said Magnus and Alec flinched when Magnus said his name as he was in the process of shutting down again. “Hey, now, look at me,” said Magnus softly and reached forward with his hand and gently cupped Alec’s face and made him look up and Alec gasped when he felt the softness and warmth of Magnus’ palm hugging his face.

Alec kept grabbing onto his jeans, his palms sweaty and he kept his eyes fixed on Magnus. “Underhill… he, um,” he said and Magnus nodded. Alec had difficulties with wording what he wanted to say.

“I know,” whispered Magnus. “Theodore mentioned a part of it,” he said and then made a short pause and Alec pressed his lips together and started panicking again-

_Okay, so Underhill told him.._

Magnus probably wanted to know why he’d been panicking. Alec had not been in a good state when Underhill brought him in here. Alec wasn’t much better off, than what he had been. Alec just keep panicking, like he couldn’t calm down enough to just settle.

“O-oh,” stammered Alec and looked down, feeling his heart ready out of his chest. Magnus knew. Alec took in a deep breath as he was trying to calm down, but couldn't.

“That they got you injured on purpose,” said Magnus, feeling anger settle deep within him. He was beyond furious, keeping his hands on top of Alec's shoulders.

“T-they… wanted to get back at me for what happened with I-Izzy,” stammered Alec finally and then pressed his lips together. Magnus narrowed his eyes. “T-they think I went to the principal and…”

“Those fucking bastards,” growled Magnus. Now, Magnus felt even more furious. He didn't feel guilty for going to the principal and telling her what happened. Imogen needed to know what was happening, so no. That needed to be done. However, it _pissed_ him off they ganged up all on Alec and he gritted his teeth.

“Yeah,” Alec had to agree that they were bastards. Not really sure what else should be said, he had taken to looking down at his hands. There was other stuff that Magnus and himself could talk about. He wasn’t exactly sure if Magnus even wanted to talk to him about what was or had been bothering Magnus. He couldn’t pressure Magnus to talk to him, as Magnus hadn’t him.

“I’m fine..” Even though Alec really wasn’t, there was possibility he had a torn ligament or some medical mumbo. He hadn’t actually paid attention last doctors appointment. Magnus huffed under his breath, but decided not to push it too much, because he knew how Alexander got when he was under a lot of stress. So, he decided to let it slide for the time being and he nodded.

“Okay, if you say so,” said Magnus softly and Alec avoided making eye contact with him. “But,” said Magnus, because it was obvious that Alec was lying to him. “You know you can always come talk to me, yeah?” he asked, letting him know _again_ that he was going to be there for him. No matter.

“Yeah,” said Alec with a sad smile. “Thanks,” he then forced and Magnus then slowly let got of his hands, looking down when he saw Alec chasing his hands with his own and heaviness crept into his heart again. He didn’t want to leave Alec all alone, not like this.

“Say… how about,” said Magnus and made a short pause. “We go somewhere, huh?” he asked and Alec looked up at him. “My place?” he asked and Alec shrugged. “Come on… it’s clear you’re not okay. I don’t wanna leave you. Not like this,” said Magnus softly. “You don’t have to tell me everything, but just...”

“Can I come over?” asked Alec with a small voice, because he really didn’t want to be alone and being with Magnus made him the most comfortable. “If it’s not too much to ask and-”

“Of course,” said Magnus happily and nodded. “After the class, let’s go over to my place. We can watch a movie or something,” said Magnus, feeling a bit awkward about it, but… he couldn’t say no to those eyes. Plus, being with someone made him forget about his father. Still… things were a bit awkward on Magnus… that kiss… Magnus shook his head. Alec didn’t remember it, so he let it slide.

“Okay,” said Alec and smiled a bit.

“Great,” said Magnus with a wink and then pressed his lips together.

After the class, the two of them slowly made it over to Magnus’ place. His mom was already home and she decided to prepare the boys a little snack at the two of them went up to Magnus’ bedroom to hang out. Alec was thankful he had a friend like Magnus. Even though he was still stressing and panicking, just for the few hours he was able to forget about the hardships troubling him as the two of them continued talking back and forth which was the greatest movie and song of all time.

***

Magnus was sitting at his desk in his room, gathering up the homework Alec had sort of helped him with that he hadn’t exactly got. Probably why he’d failed math last year and was having to make it up. Well, he hadn’t failed it all on his own. Camille had been in the class to last year, while he’d been dating her. Then there might have been a time or two that Magnus forgot to do his homework.

Thankfully Lightwood wasn’t just brawn, there was some brains in there. Plus, Alexander had said he’d had trouble and bribed Izzy last year for the same reasons. She’d helped him understand how to do the problems, and now Alexander has paid it forward. It had only been about an hour since he’d left, saying he’d text once he got home.

Magnus bit his lip as he looked out the window from his room. The sky was dark, sure they didn’t live far from one another. It was just it was already late, and it was darker than what it normally would be for about eight o’clock in the evening. Magnus had remembered something that his mother had texted him about a rain/snow storm that was coming.

Mainly because she knew his feelings about any kind of storms. He hated them. Sure snowstorms weren’t as bad at thunderstorms, but it still didn’t calm Magnus’ anxieties about them. There was a thud down stairs, and it caused him to jump. He heard the wind howling outside, and hoping that Alec had made it home safely.

Getting up from his desk and walking down the stairs, “Mama?” He called out hoping maybe that it be here on the porch. Having walked down the stairs, “Mama, you home?” He called again as he came down the stairs.

Hoping silently that she hadn’t fallen coming up the stairs. That was mainly because ever since they’d received the letter about Asmodeus asking to see _him_. Her leg had flared up in more pain, she tried to blame it on the impending colder weather. Maybe it was the truth, but Magnus knew better anytime her mind was brought back to thinking about the man that tried to kill them..

“Mama?”

_Flashback_

 

_“Mama?” asked the little boy who had just heard a scream coming down from the kitchen. He was up in his room playing with his toys when he heard his mother crying out and begging someone to stop. What was going on? He swallowed thickly as he was slowly walking down the stairs, terrified as he didn’t know what was happening. Then, he heard his father… cursing at his mother and he was completely petrified. He was standing in front of the kitchen, but the door was cracked opened and he could see his father, lifting his hand and slapping his mother across the face._

_“You bitch,” said Asmodeus, slurring his words as he was swaying on his legs, drunk and then Magnus flinched when he saw his father grabbing his mother’s hair and pulling her head up, annoyed that she refused to look him. “Look at me when you’re being spoken to,” he spat and Magnus felt his heart dropping._

_“Please, stop,” sobbed Annisa._

_Magnus’ father had an enraged look in his eyes, Magnus wanted to run up to his room again, but stayed still and he covered his mouth with his little palms when his father noticed him there as well. “Come here,” said Asmodeus and released Annisa for the time being, heading over to Magnus, who was walking away, hitting the wall and he squeezed himself against._

_“No, leave Magnus alone, you bastard,” said Annisa sobbing and quickly ran after her husband. “Lay a finger on him and I swear I’ll-”_

_“You’ll do what?” asked Asmodeus with a scoff. Annisa looked down terrified. “That’s what I thought,” he said and then went back to Magnus, who was still squeezing himself against the wall._

_“Dad, please-”_

_“Shut. The. Fuck. Up,” said Asmodeus and lifted his hand up. Just as he was about to hit Magnus, Annisa yelled out loud and tried to push Asmodeus away. The man turned to her and gave his wife another hit, Magnus calling out to his mom._

“Oh my darling boy.” Annisa, she’s noticed his blank stare.  Pulling him into a hug, that Magnus hadn’t realized that he needed. A shaky sigh as she pulled him closer. “Shush.” She did rubbing at his back. While it wasn’t the exact same place they lived with Asmodeus, nor the kitchen. The loud noise had triggered the flashback.

How many times had he remembered times that were fair worse? That flashback had been tame compared to some after his father had been drinking. It was probably one of the ones before, Asmodeus had taken to gambling. That was when everything seemed to take a huge spiral dowards.

Blaming his loses onto them because he’d lost their money gambling it away, to what? To have more money for beer to drink. To give him more reason to hit them for no reason, but to blame someone other than himself?

That was when Magnus’ eyes opened catching sight of another letter. “Mama?” Reaching out from their hug. It had only been a week since the first letter.

_Flashback of about a week ago._

_It was a Saturday mid-morning, he’d left before Alec woke up. Mostly to forgo the awkwardness that might be there once Alec woke up. His mind was confused by the kiss, but besides that Magnus was extremely proud of Alexander._

_Because besides Alec’s injury Magnus could tell that something had been plaguing Alec for the last few weeks. As Magnus walked much as how he had to Alec’s the evening before, his finger tips ghosted across his own lips._  


_The evening before just felt so surreal for himself, because for weeks Magnus had thought about Alec kissing him or himself kissing Alexander. It was a little disheartened that Magnus knew that Alec might not even remember the night before._

_Magnus hoped that maybe Alec would at least remember telling him what Alec had. Because Magnus was extremely proud of his friend. That’s all they were even if Magnus held out hope for more?_

_“Darling?” Annisa called from the kitchen when she heard the door open._

_“Yes? Mama?” Magnus had answered, “Can you come in here for a second.” Had he done something? Something that he couldn’t remember? The previous year when Magnus had been while Camille, he done many things he hadn’t been all that proud about. “Sure.” He said biting at his lip and he walked into the kitchen._

_“Come sit down.” Was what Mama said, and it made him a bit more nervous. There were papers on the table in front of her. It was too soon to be getting college letters, right it wasn’t even time to begin sending those out._

_“What’s going on?” Magnus breathed as he sat down glancing over the letter._

_“It’s nothing bad,” Annisa looking up at her son, but even she wasn’t all that convinced that it wasn’t bad._

_“You see, dear.” Magnus sat watching his mom fiddle with the edge of one of the ends of the letter. There was also one that seemed, closed. Magnus was confused, but not trying to let it show. “Your father..” Magnus’ eyed bulged from his sockets as she said those words. That man was in prison, and wasn’t supposed to contact them._

_“No! Nope.” Magnus didn’t want to hear it._

_“Calm down.” She said softly._

_Calm down? Why? “Calm down? Really mom?” Shaking his head, his leg bouncing as he sat there. “That man almost killed you!” Exclaiming the point, “I know that son.” His mama placed a hand onto his own that wasn’t clenched into fist._

_Everything about Asmodeus pissed Magnus off. It was probably why Magnus never spoke about the man. Why those closest to him never asked, sometimes they just knew. “Darling, I’m not going to make you read the letter.” Annisa gave Magnus a sad smile. But she could understand his anger with the man._

_Magnus sat there in silence for a little while, his eyes travelling to the letter, then to his mother, whose fingers were shaking. She was terrified and that pissed him off even more. She tried to pretend she was okay for Magnus’ sake, but he knew her well enough. “What does he want now?” asked Magnus after he had calmed down enough._

_“Asmodeus, he,” stammered Annisa and pressed her lips together. “Well,” she said as she really didn’t know how to tell her son this. “He’s up for parole. Saying he’d been a model prisoner.” Annisa knew her ex-husband well enough to know that Asmodeus could be charming. With what his mother said, it made Magnus’ stomach twist into a knot. Feeling rather sick, that at the mere thought of that man being released._

_“What?” he asked and shook his head. No, what? How…? How was it even legal… after all he did to them…? Magnus felt his entire body shaking and his face was pale. “No, they can’t do this!” he yelled and shook his head. “Don’t they know what he tried to do?!” he screamed as his heart was hammering against his ribcage._

_“I know, honey,” said Annisa and closed her eyes, afraid herself as well. “They’re asking us to go down there and-”_

_“No way in hell. No,” said Magnus and shook his head. “No way in hell I’m going there to help him. Let him rot in prison forever.”_

“Oh my sweet boy.” Holding him tighter, “Mama, why?” Just _Why._ Why were they having to deal with all of this all over again. It just wasn’t fair to him nor was it fair to his mother.

 

***

 

With a groan Magnus had lifted his pillow and placed it over his ears. Hoping that the god awful noise that his phone was making would just stop. It it wasn’t for the fact that his alarm and his phone were one in the same. It would’ve been thrown across the room, hoping to make it stop. With as bad of a night as Magnus had, with his nightmares. Magnus usually would’ve just forgone school. No, today wasn’t just about himself, his worries and frustrations could wait. Alexander needed him.

It had only been around twelve hours since Alec had found out about what those bastards did. And knowing Alexander like he thought he did, Magnus didn’t figure he told anyone else in his family about what he found out. So supporting Alexander was the only reason Magnus had pulled himself from the comfort of his bed.

With the little sleep that Magnus got, putting on eyeliner was the simplest tasks of his makeup to put on. Besides running a comb through his hair, Magnus mostly grabbed a hoodie and putting it on and throwing the hood over his head.

Magnus was tired and he knew he had a long day ahead of him. That day, the classes were extra long and he was just absently staring in front of himself, not bothering to even take notes as he was completely out of it, sighing every now and there, his mood only brightening when he would look at Alexander, who would smile back at him, but that was it. It looked like the other wasn’t really in the mood to talk, so he decided to leave it be and he kept to himself, moping around and feeling sorry for himself.

That was until he heard Camille talking with someone else, sitting not too far from him, perking up when he heard that they mentioned Alec’s name. “I think he’s just pretending,” said Camille and giggling could be heard at the next desk, Magnus’ stomach twisting into a knot and he wanted to go there and tell her to shut the fuck up, but didn’t as he didn’t want to make a scene. “He didn’t even fall that hard,” she then said and some of her friends nodded in agreement.

“It’s just faking it.”

“He just wants to be in the centre of attention,” said Camille and rolled her eyes. “Just like his sister. Can you believe that she got Jonathan expelled? Sebby told me all about it,” said Camille and snickered. “Lightwoods are pathetic,” she then added. “Try so hard to be under a spotlight, but it’ll never happen,” she then added and Magnus took in a deep breath.

That was it, he was going there, because… he couldn’t just sit back and listen to Camille talk shit about his friends. It _enraged_ him when he heard Camille actually defending Morgenstern, that creep! So, he stood up and marched right over to her.

Going up against Camille wouldn’t be the best thought out thing that Magnus could do today. But Magnus wasn’t going to let this bitch, talk about Alexander or Isabelle that way. She knew nothing about what was going on, nothing. But was still choosing to run her mouth and not care who she hurt along the way.

Having pulled the sweatshirt around him closer, “Camille, do be a dear..” Magnus said softly enough, he wasn’t here to provoke her. Though anytime he had to deal with her.. Let us just say wonderful words were often spoken. “And shut up, you know nothing about the Lightwoods so keep your big yap shut,” grumbled Magnus.

Camille looked his way and arched an eyebrow, then let out her trademarked annoying as hell giggle, which made Magnus’ skin crawl. “Oh, look who came to defend his boyfriend,” said Camille and Magnus clenched his jaw as her other friends started giggling. _Oh my god,_ all of them were laughing in the same and annoying manner as Camille. They were like bad copies of her, Magnus rolling his eyes.

“Stay out of it, Camille,” warned her Magnus.

“I was merely expressing my opinion,” said Camille. “This is a free country and last time I checked I am free to exercise my freedom of speech,” she said simply and then turned to her friends, grinning as she knew Magnus was still listening.

Oh yes, it was a free country, and they had the freedom to speak how they wanted. “Camille, dear.” Magnus cast towards her and those bots. “Did you ever figure out why, you didn’t win Homecoming Queen.” Magnus grinned, watching as Camille’s face twisted. Sure Camille’s mask only slid for a second. “I mean, it’s a free country, but no one would vote for a bitch like you.” It was after that, that the bell had rang. Magnus fathered his stuff and headed to lunch.

***

_You can do this._

Alec stood facing the mirror trying to psych himself up, when in reality he was psyching himself out already. There was hardly a time that they had dinner all together. Hell the only time in the last few months, was after the first day of school. Where then Robert—his father had been his normal charming self. Especially after telling him about the whole Coach thing. About the dancing. Robert had been against it, but Alec hadn’t really cared. Basically because Alec knew something that his father knew he knew.

That was why Alec had just done it, while he was still dancing. Other than the face he fell in love with it, and maybe with someone there as well. There was something of a light blush on his cheeks. Every since he told Magnus, that he was gay. Alec saw Magnus different. Not a bad different, just with open eyes. It made Alec’s heart palpate and a smile break out.

Since Maryse had told them about this family dinner, Alec had thought about telling everyone soon. This just put everyone basically in the same room. Expect the more Alec stood in front of the mirror the more...Alec was chickening out.

Only little did Alec know, this family dinner wasn’t going to be.. What they all expected.

As Maryse called the kids to the dining area, Alec took in a deep breath and nodded to himself. Yes, he was afraid of what might happen at the dinner after he'd come out, but it was better than lying to others and keeping the truth inside. It was getting heavier and heavier and he just wanted to come clean to everyone about it. With that on his mind, Alec wished himself luck.

“Here goes nothing,” said Alec to himself and made his way down to the kitchen, where everyone was already gathered.

_Where was Robert?_

Alec’s eyes roamed the table, looking over everyone.

_Where was Max?_

This was a family dinner right? Why was everyone basically silently eating?

“Mom? Where’s Dad and Max?” All eyes went to the person (the person is Iz) whose asked the questions. Before shifting their eyes back to Maryse. Who’d just laid down her fork and took her napkin dabbing her face.

Maryse looked at her children and took in a deep breath. Max was at a friend's house as she didn't want him there when she would drop the news to her kids. Max was still too young, so she wanted to tell him some other way. As for Robert, he… “Max is at Madzie's’,” said Maryse and Alec narrowed his eyes when he heard his mom's voice shaking.

“And dad?” asked Jace.

“Robert is, um,” stammered Maryse and took in a deep breath as she didn't really know how to break the news to her older children as well. Her and Robert were getting a divorce and a part of her was ashamed to confess that her marriage had failed. “He won't be joining us for the dinner.”

“Why not?” asked Izzy and looked at Alec, who had a hunch what was happening and he looked down, avoiding making eye contact with the others.

“Mom?” asked Jace as he also didn't get why Maryse was being so quiet.

Feeling Izzy’s eyes on him, she was looking to him for some sort of answer. He didn’t have a complete one, but figured it was from what he saw this past summer. Robert knew that Alec knew, and didn’t seem to care. Almost as if Robert thought that Alec wouldn’t say anything.. Which had been true, why? Because Alec didn’t want to see his mother the way she was now. His heart hurt for her, even if Alec never really understood what love was. At least not until Magnus?

Was he in love with Magnus Bane?

He felt so many things for Magnus, but was love one of them?  Hell Alec didn’t even know if Magnus felt the same way.

“You’re fa-ther....” Maryse’s voice broke trying to say what she was gonna say. She’d paused trying to recompose herself to look at her three oldest children. “You’re father and I are divorcing.”

“WHAT?! why?!” It was Izzy that jarred the tabled as she had stood up. While none of them had much of a relationship with either parent in the last couple of years. But Izzy had been, at least she when she was little. Had been a daddy’s girl.

Since Izzy wasn’t getting an answers out of Maryse, her assaults turned to Alec. “Did you already know?!” Looking at Alec as she was hurt and feeling betrayed.

“No.” Alec had answered keeping his face stoic, and said nothing more. But as Alec looked towards Jace who hadn’t said anything since Maryse told them that. Jace looked back at his brother and his eyes widened. He knew Alec and when he was lying, who totally was at the moment.

“You knew, didn’t you?” snapped Jace and Alec’s face went really pale.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” stammered Alec and then Isabelle looked at him as well, knowing that Alec was lying as well. He was a bad liar and she could always see it when he’d lie.

“Oh my god, you did,” said Izzy. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

“Even if I did know about the divorce before _this._ Which I didn’t by the way.” Alec glared at both of them. Why were both of them acting like it was about the both of them. Because it wasn’t. What Alec knew was the reason why, and their mother wanted them to know, then it was her place to tell them. Not him, he found out even before their mother.

“You knew about your father?” Maryse asked him, and Alec knew what she was asking. Shamefully Alec gave her a nod, and looked away guilt. Alec didn’t want to look up at her. Because he was afraid of how she was looking at him. He hadn’t liked keeping this a secret. It wasn’t as if Robert had asked him, but he didn’t want to see her hurting like she was now. “Why didn’t you tell me?” The question broke him, but he composed himself enough to look up. Living in this family for the last eighteen years had taught him that. That emotions were what made a person weak.

“...” Trying to find the words as he looked at her. Their mother wasn’t known to cry, but she sat there holding back her tears. “How long?!” He looked away again. “Since July.” He had answered.

“What’s going on?!” Both Iz and Jace said emotional and upset.

“The reason your father and I are divorcing is because he’s been cheat on me.” Alec felt the look his mother gave him. “For how long? That isn’t completely clear.” Her voice hollow as she spoke to Isabelle and Jace.

 


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi sorry we know we’re late! But that’s only because we couldn’t decide if we should end where we are and we’ve had a little trouble coming up with ideas. If you want share with us some of what you’d like to see and yours may just show up in here you never know. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy this chapter

What was he doing? 

It was like eight o’clock in the evening, maybe later. Alec wasn’t exactly sure, as his phone was upstairs in his room back at his house. Yet, here Alec was standing outside on Magnus’ porch looking at the front door. 

Why was he even here? 

Oh because everyone at home hated him? Because he knew about their father’s live altering decisions. Which instead of telling his mother or the rest of his family. Alec thought it would’ve been best not to say. Which now seemed like the most horrible decision. Because it made him no better than his cheating father it seemed. At least in Izzy’s and Jace’s eyes, and maybe even their mother. 

Alec expected Robert to have been their tonight, and figured he would’ve been thrown out anyways. Especially had Alec gone through what Alec had planned with. Everyone hated him now, anyways. Because he keep what he had a secret for months. How would everyone react to finding out he was gay? The tears stung in his eyes, what? How? It shouldn’t matter like it did. It wasn’t as if they rejected him. Alec hadn’t told them. 

What their mother told them was far worse, what made that just.. unforgivable was that Alec had known. His mother looked at him like he’d betrayed her. Same with Izzy and Jace. Exactly how was Alec suppose to tell them?! 

_ Oh, hey just so you know dad’s cheating on mom. _

Yeah, that sounded real good. 

Or,  _ hey mom, don’t know how else to say it. But dad’s cheating on you. _

None of them would’ve believed it! Even himself had trouble believing it for a while.

“Alexander?” 

Magnus stood with a ball bat in his hand, and Alec had jumped. Here Magnus thought someone was trying to break into his house, that or his mother had forgotten her keys again. “What are you doing here?” The wide eyed expression on Alexander’s face. Looking much like a deer in headlights, who was now standing completely still. “Darling? Is everything okay?” Alexander started to speak, but couldn’t find the words. 

Every emotion Alec had from anger to sadness. They all crashed into him when Magnus had opened his front door. What was Alec suppose to say? “S-Sorry.” Alec stammered out composing himself. “I’m going to go.” Alec didn’t know exactly why he even came here. 

Magnus’ eyes widened when he saw Alec’s reaction and he narrowed his eyes. “Wait, Alec,” said Magnus, Alec turned around and then pressed his lips together, happy to see that Alec decided to wait as he called out after him, but still… Alec didn’t dare to turn around and face him again. He honestly didn’t really know what he was doing there. He just went to the first place where he felt safe, where he knew that he wouldn’t be judged… and that was with Magnus. Magnus always knew how to put his mind at ease. 

Worried that Alec was just standing there, Magnus quickly hurried over to Alec, who wasn’t really standing that far from him and gently placed his hand on top of Alec’s shoulder and then quickly released it when he felt Alec stiffening under his touch. “Alexander,” he then said, Alec flinching when he said his full first name and Magnus waited a bit. “You don’t have to leave, I was just surprised to see you, that’s all,” quickly explained Magnus and Alec slowly turned around.

“O-oh,” stammered Alec and then started chewing on his lower lip. “Can I...” he stammered, but then his voice trailed off and Magnus cocked his head to the side. “I mean,” he then said and took in a deep breath. He couldn’t go home, not now… yet he didn’t want to be a bother to Magnus.

“Do you wanna come inside?” asked Magnus when he realised that Alec wasn’t going to start talking and Alec slowly nodded, slowly following Magnus inside. It was freezing outside, so he exhaled deeply when he stepped inside of the house, warmth welcoming his freezing face and hands, shuddering and he started looking around, but still didn’t say anything.

Awkward silence fell in between them as Magnus felt his cheeks heating up, heart fastening just a little bit. “Let me get your jacket,” said Magnus and Alec quickly nodded, taking it off and Magnus found the way Alec’s nose and cheeks were red from cold incredibly adorable. He cleared his throat when he became aware of what he was thinking. “Come into the kitchen, I’ll prepare you some hot chocolate. Looks like you need one, you’re freezing,” said Magnus and Alec slowly nodded, following Magnus to the kitchen, quietly sitting down and he watched Magnus work around the kitchen.

“Hey, um, Magnus,” finally spoke Alec up and Magnus hummed, slowly turning at him. “Can I, um, stay here for a while?” he blurted out and then his own eyes widened. That… maybe didn’t come out the way he wanted. He couldn’t just… stay there. He didn’t want to be a bother to Magnus, but he also… “Please?” he asked and bit onto his lower lip, which was trembling.

Magnus quickly stopped what he was doing and went to join Alec at the table, who was now nervously biting onto his nails and Magnus narrowed his eyes. Alec’s face was twisted in pain and it broke Magnus’ heart to see him like that. “What happened?” whispered Magnus and Alec shrugged.

“I, um,” said Alec and then made a short pause. He really wasn’t in the mood to give Magnus the whole story, so he summed it up in a sentence, “I just really can’t handle being home right now… everyone hates me.”

Magnus didn’t say anything for a while and then he finally figured what probably had happened. Did Alec come out to his family and they threw him out? It sure looked like it and Magnus didn’t want to pry into it too much, so he decided not to ask too much. However, he was  _ furious _ with Jace and Isabelle… especially with Izzy! Did they just… allow their parents to throw Alec out like that?!

“Of course,” said Magnus softly and placed his hands over Alec’s ones.  

***

It had been less than twenty-four hours since Alec left his house, but more since the impromptu family dinner. Luckily, Magnus had let him stay, and hadn’t pressured him into talking about whatever happened. Actually it was quite surprising that Alec hadn’t heard his phone ring. Though then again he’d kind of forgotten that he didn’t have it. That Alec had just left without really saying where he was going. Not that anyone actually cared, they were far too concerned with their own feelings.

But what about his, hmm? It was Alec that had known for months. Having see their father kiss another woman. Hell, Alec couldn’t even remember the actual reason he’d gone to his father’s office that day. Actually, wait.. No, nevermind. It had just brought up with rage inside him, and now it just brought a sadness.

Weakness. Emotions were a weakness.

At least that was what Robert would say, yet here Alec was. Alone, with everyone hating him?! Like what had he done. He knew something, and that made him the bad guy. Made him worse than their father? Probably at least in Izzy and Jace’s eyes. Maybe even their mother’s too. Yet, here Alec was inside of his crush’s home. Because right now, it was the only place Alec felt safe? Felt  _ loved? _ Maybe not the type Alec wanted in return, but at least it was there? A bitter laugh escaped his lips as he pushed away the tears. 

Laying in Magnus’ bed, staring up at Magnus’ ceiling. While Magnus was…? Where was Magnus? Actually, what time was it? There was hardly a clock inside of Magnus’ room. No wonder he was always late. The irony of that, made him actually laugh.

“Magnus?” Alec had called down the stairs, mostly because Alec heard faint whispers of someone talking. As Alec got closer he heard the conversion a little better.. 

“ _ Sayang _ ..” Was what Alec heard, but didn’t know what it meant. It wasn’t like Alec spoke any other languages all that well. He barely made it through French freshmen year. “ _ Tidak _ ,  _ Mama _ .” Alec felt guilty for standing there. As he was actively listening to a conversation that he probably shouldn’t be. It wasn’t as if he could understand it, but from where Alec was it felt intrusive. 

“Uh...Good morning..” Stepping out from around the corner. Watching Annisa, “ _ Kami masih berbicarta tentang hal ini _ .” Was what she said looking at Magnus before turning to Alec, “Good Morning, Alec. Hope you slept well.” Alec blushed and nodded. But in reality of it all? Had he? Because to him it felt like he had, while maybe he hadn’t. 

Watching Magnus roll his eyes at his mother, knowing that would’ve cause him a smack to the back of the head. Things were different in the Bane home than his own. 

“Are you hungry, darling?” Asked Magnus and Alec merely shoot his head no. Yet his stomach betrayed him. It growled and Alec sheepishly away with a blush. At the dinner Alec hadn’t exactly ate, too keen on giving his own news.. When his mother dropped her news onto them. That and, how all of it was his fault had he just told everyone what he saw in July. Everything would be just peachy right now. 

“Wonderful, you’re just in time for my mom’s famous pancakes,” said Magnus happily and clasped his hands together, giving Alec a little wink and tried to cheer him up a little bit. Alec still didn’t really tell him a reason for him coming to his place, but he was still of an opinion that Alec’ family threw him out for coming out, so he wanted to do anything that was in his power to cheer Alexander up. 

“Oh, um, I’m not hungry,” said Alec as he really didn’t want to be a trouble for the Bane household, though he really wasn’t. Every friend of Magnus’ was welcomed in there and Annisa shook her head. 

“Now, now, you have to eat, boy,” said Annisa and went closer to Alec, who gave her a sheepish smile and he just looked down as he didn’t know what to do. He was quite awkward around people, but he liked Annisa. She was always in a good mood, at least from what he could tell. 

“I don’t want to be a bother,” said Alec with a small voice and Annisa quickly shook her head.

“No trouble at all,” she said with a wink and then looked over at Magnus, signing him to go closer to his friend and cheer him up. Magnus felt his stomach dropping a bit when Alec though he was being a bother, so yes… he was there to cheer his friend up and he gave Alec a little smile as he stepped really close to him. 

“She means it,” said Magnus and then placed his hand on top of his shoulder and shook him gently. “You’re never a trouble. Not to me, never,” he said, knowing that it sounded very cheesy and over the top, but it needed to be said, especially at the moment. “Plus, that frown will be quickly turned upside down after you get to try one of my mom’s pancakes,” he said, still boasting about his mom’s cooking and Annisa said something to him in Indonesian, which Alec couldn’t really understand what it was, but it left Magnus rolling his eyes and chuckling. 

“Okay,” said Alec, Magnus’ and Annisa’s good mood slowly rubbing off on him and he cracked a little smile after all. “I’ll have some then,” he said and gave Magnus a thankful look, Magnus happy to see Alexander smiling. There, that kind of a smile suited him best and he really was going to have a serious talk with Isabelle and Jace in school, because he was just… beyond pissed at this point. 

“Great,” said Magnus and rubbed his palms together. “Wanna help me set the table?” asked Magnus, wanting to make Alec feel included and he quickly nodded, happy that Magnus wanted him there to help. It honestly took his mind off things. Alec nodded and Magnus smiled, Annisa smiling as she watched the boys set up the table. She liked Magnus’ friend quite a lot and she could see that her son was very attached to him as well. So, yes, Alec Lightwood was welcomed to stay there for as long as he wanted.

***

Monday. It meant school. After the weekend with having Alexander over, Magnus really didn’t feel like going to school. Especially not since Alec wasn’t going with him. Alec had decided to stay home, because he really wasn’t in the mood to face Jace and Izzy and Magnus understood that very well since if he was in his position, he would want to stay home for a little while as well. However, Magnus was going to have a little talk with them as he could feel his blood boiling with anger as he was sitting in the cafeteria at lunch, sitting with Raphael and murdering Jace and Izzy with his gaze.  

“Take a picture, Bane. It’ll last longer.” Was something Raphael grumbled under his breath. It was sort of annoying that Bane was sitting with him, yet again. Which Raphael didn’t understand anymore that Raphael could understand Bane. 

Sitting there watching Magnus glaring at the Lightwood trope across the lunch room. “Where’s the third?” Raphael tossed his head off to the side, towards where Lightwoods sat daily. There was only two there, so where was the third. Magnus had been hanging with the boy wonder of the school. Well, he had been before Lightwood got hurt during homecoming.

“What?” Magnus said, who was now looking towards Raphael. Who had thrown him by at least what he thinks was asking where Alec was. That was what Raphael asked him, by him meaning the third? Well, Alec was at his home, hiding. Not that Magnus hadn’t tried bribing him into coming. Magnus had made sure to be up and ready to go so they both wouldn’t be late. That hadn’t exactly worked, Magnus found Alec on his couch in the living room both arms crossed his chest and legs hanging off. A blanket his mom had to thrown across him after coming in as well. 

Thing was Alec probably thought Magnus didn’t hear Alec leave his room. He was a light sleeper, always had been. Almost always had to be ready, in hopes to save his Mama. He heard Alec pacing the floor. Magnus didn’t want to pry if Alec wasn’t ready to talk, but it was hurting him seeing Alec the way he was. Which was why Magnus had been glaring with the intent to kill at the back of Jace's head and Izzy’s face. Not that either had bothered to talk to him today. 

“I said, where is the third?” Raphael pointing towards Alec’s normal table. Where Alec wasn’t, because he’d outright refused Magnus. He couldn’t be sure that it was him just being stubborn or if Alec just wasn’t ready. Though, the way Alexander has refused him, clearly wasn’t himself. Maybe staying home, would help Alec get some actual rest. Because Magnus knew that Alexander hadn’t in the last two nights. Between tossing and turning fitfully and Alec’s late night pacing.. 

“Not here, obviously.” Magnus said waving his hand looking down towards his food, that Magnus hadn’t paid any attention too. 

Isabelle and Jace were eating in silence and Izzy's eyes kept travelling to Magnus, guilt clawing at her chest when she saw how Magnus was looking at her and her brother. Magnus was beyond pissed with the two of them and Izzy sighed, no longer feeling hungry and her heart fell into the pit of her stomach. Everything that happened lately… was a lot and she was just  _ exhausted  _ at this point. She felt bad for snapping at Alec like that at the dinner, but she just… Felt betrayed. She couldn't believe that Alec would hide something like that from her and Jace.

It hurt especially because her and Alec had been always close. She knew that he was just trying to protect their family, but she didn't think of that and it the heap of the moment she said things she didn't really mean. As did Jace, they were both feeling embarrassed for how they acted towards their brother. After the dinner… Things were tough. Later that evening, Maryse received a phone call from Magnus’ mother, who told her where their son was and Maryse allowed Alec to spend there the weekend. They just all needed some time to...process everything.

“I'll go tell him to stop staring,” grumbled Jace, who was still kind of pissed with Alec. “It's off putting,” he then added. He wondered just what Alec told him, it wasn't like Bane to look so  _ hostile. _

“Let it be, Jace,” said Izzy and shook her head. “You'll make things worse,” she then added and sighed. “Maybe I'll go talk to him though. I'm worried about Alec,” said Izzy and Jace didn't say anything. He was also worried, but didn't let it show.

Izzy attempted to go over to Magnus’ table, but Magnus stood up as soon as he saw Izzy coming closer. He couldn't bear to talk to her… At least not yet, Izzy sighing sadly as she watched Magnus march out of the cafeteria.

***

“Alexander.” Magnus stayed calming looking at the ball of Alexander laying there on the floor. “Are you going to school today?” It has been about five days since Alec had shown up, asking if he could stay. Magnus had seen how upset Alec had been that night, and hadn’t pushed about why. He assumed by what Alexander said, that everyone hated him. Magnus believed that Alec had came out to his family, and they’d thrown him out.

“No.” Was all Magnus got from Alec, and with a sigh. Magnus had avoided speaking to either Izzy or Jace in the last three days. Because Magnus wasn’t sure if he could hold his tongue any longer. 

It didn’t help that Magnus didn’t know the full story and he didn’t wanna pry. If Alec wanted to tell him, then Magnus would listen. But Magnus wasn’t about to force Alec to talk if he didn’t want too. It was just it been days, and Magnus was growing tired of seeing Alexander as he was. Not that Magnus didn’t find Alexander scruff appealing, because Magnus did. It was the sad look Alexander had, it was like he was beating himself up over something that he hadn’t had any control over at least not really. 

“You can’t keep skipping.” Looking the form of Alexander on his floor. As Alexander lifted to give him a stony stare, “Fine, they’re your grades.” Wasn’t like the teachers didn’t think that Alexander had a case of Senioritis if anything. 

“Who made you my mom?” snapped Alec, because he was on edge lately and then he closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath to calm himself down. No, he shouldn’t be taking it out to Magnus, because he only meant well. Plus, he was the only person he had left, really. Others hated him was what Alec believed and he pressed his lips together. “I’m sorry,” he said, apologising as quickly as he snapped and Magnus shook his head.

“It’s okay,” said Magnus and took in a deep breath as well. “I know.. it must be tough. You’re going through a hard time, but,” he said and then rubbed his palms together. “You shouldn’t just give in like that. I mean,” he said and rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s just… schools sucks without you,” he blurted out and then he felt his cheeks heating up, Alec looking up.

“Yeah right,” said Alec and rolled his eyes. “I bet everyone’s happy I’m not there.”

“That’s not true,” said Magnus and gave Alec a little warm smile. “I miss you, for example,” he said and Alec felt his heart making a skip. Magnus missed him in school… that was all that his mind could focus on and he swallowed thickly. Well, that was maybe a good reason enough to go to school that day. Right? But if he was going, he wasn’t going to leave Magnus’ side. 

“Really?” asked Alec and after days a little smile spread across his face and Magnus quickly nodded, happy to see that the other one cheered up a little bit. “F-fine, then maybe I’ll go to keep you company,” he said and then started chewing on his lower lip again. “But, I won’t… I don’t want to talk to Jace and Izzy. I just can’t-”

“Don’t worry about them,” said Magnus quickly as he felt anger pooling in his stomach. “You don’t need to hang out with them. Just stick to me and you’ll be fine. And if it gets too difficult at any given time, just let me know and we’ll… skip school together,” he said with a wink and Alec slowly nodded. Magnus was so understanding. Always there for him. A faint flush spread across his cheeks and then he took in a deep breath.

“Okay,” stammered Alec. “I’ll go to school today,” he said and felt his heart falling to the pit of his stomach as he was already dreading the day. But at least Magnus was going to be there with him. 

***

There’s only been the one class that separated Magnus from himself, and that had been Math while he had English. But in the other two classes Magnus had stayed with him like he said he would. It wasn’t that Alec doubted Magnus, Alec could never doubt Magnus, at least not as far as he knew. Alec had always been able to trust Magnus in the short few months they’d known one another. 

Which had been a little surprising, as the first few weeks of their relationship had been pretty rocky. Thinking about that now, it kind of made Alec laugh. Not that Alec had done much laughing over the last couple of days. It was mostly brooding, and being upset that Izzy, Jace, and his own mother pretty much hated him. Why? Because all Alec wanted was to try and keep his family together, but instead he got the opposite. Not only had Robert rip them all apart, but Alec had contributed.

No, he had decided to come to school for Magnus. Even tho Magnus said at any point he wanted to leave. They would skip. Magnus had even asked before Mr. Branwell came in, as Magnus could tell Alec was uncomfortable. That also had been because Jace keep trying to get his attention. Magnus had sat between them, which made things awkward for most of that class. 

Jace and his relationship had already began to strain over the summer. Especially after he’d found out about Robert. It didn’t help that Robert favored Jace over Alec. That Alec wasn’t as seriously as committed to football as Jace was. Which that had never been the case. Alec had always taken it seriously up until then. He just couldn’t be in the same room as Robert without wanting to throttle him. That secret had been eating him alive for months. Expect only to find out in the course of all the months Alec had gotten to know Magnus Bane. That besides Robert’s affair, Alec had been harboring another secret. 

The only person Alec had told so far had been Magnus. At the impromptu family dinner Maryse had told them they’d be having, Alec had planned to tell everyone then. Just everything else had blown up. It never got said, and Alec had been at Magnus’ ever sense. Mostly figuring no one wanted him around, well besides Max. Alec had to be almost certain that Maryse knew where he was, but hadn’t exactly came to get him. Neither has Izzy or Jace. 

So, it was more a matter did they even care? Had that secret really done that much damage? Alec had somehow zone out in Mr. Blackburn’s class towards the end. “Lightwood, the bell rung.” The deadpanned voice of an unamused Blackburn. It was almost like Snape from those Harry Potter films. It was far to erie, and Alec had been forced to endure those movies every so often by Izzy and Simon. 

_ Right _ ,  _ the bell.  _

 

***

Magnus was waiting for Alexander in the cafeteria, wanting to get the lunch with him that day, finally having someone to sit next to, not just Raphael, who ignored him more than half of the time, anyway. He was looking towards the clock and noticed that Alec was kind of late, but he decided to wait a little longer before starting the panic, rubbing his palms together. He hoped that Alec was okay since they didn’t have the last class together and he pressed his lips together, holding onto his bag and then he huffed under his breath when he saw Jace and Isabelle together with Simon and Clary standing in the line.

Magnus quickly looked down when he saw that Isabelle was looking over at him. She then pointed at him, leaned closer to Jace and whispered something into his ear, which kind of annoyed Magnus since he didn’t like the way they were looking at him. To him, it looked like they were talking behind his back about Alexander. In a way, they were, Isabelle was pointing at Magnus and asking Jace is they should go say hi to him and ask him what the hell was going on.

Isabelle had decided to let it go and she had completely forgiven her older brother that he had been lying to them. Well, not exactly lying, just keeping secrets and she looked over at Jace, who was over it as well. He wasn’t angry anymore, he was just worried, because it was really unlike Alec to just leave home and not return back home. Plus, he hadn’t been to school in a while and both of them had been so worried. As was Maryse, she called Magnus’ mother a lot of times, begging to get Alec on the phone, but he never came and all of them were.. it was just a big mess.

Izzy just wanted things to be as they used to be, but she knew that they could never go back; Robert screwed everything up. Well, they haven’t been a happy family in years now, but it was never this bad and Isabelle just wanted to get her brother back if their father wasn’t going to come back home. She missed him and she missed that she acted the way she did towards Alec. Jace was feeling quite embarrassed for how he reacted as well. They all said some things in the heap of the moment that they regretted. 

“Look at them staring,” grumbled Magnus to himself and he shuddered. Nope, he was going to keep it cool, for Alec’s sake, because he was going to be there at any minute now and he needed to be calm and strong for him. But still, when he saw Jace and Isabelle coming closer to him, he felt his blood boiling with anger and he bit his lower lip, looking down as he tried his best to tune them out. But it didn’t work. Not at all. 

“Hi Magnus.” Izzy started but also elbowed Jace who hadn’t said anything yet. 

“Ow!” Jace glared at Izzy who was giving him a look. “Hey Bane.” What did these two want? 

And where was Raphael? So Magnus could use him to get them to leave. Because, he had a feeling this would not bode well. 

“What did I do to owe this visit?” Still barely noticing that they were there. Hoping that maybe they’d take the hint and leave. Why? Because today had been the first day that Magnus had been able to get Alec to come to school. He wasn’t about to let them ruin it. 

“We, Jace and I  _ want  _ to know how our brother is doing?” Did they now? Magnus hadn’t yet looked at either one of them. But Magnus had been their for History, where he had sat between Jace and Alec. Where Jace spent most of class trying to gathers Alec’s attention. There’d been times where Jace had tried to speak to Alec, and Magnus had answered the boys question as it pertained to class. “Wants are strong desires, we sometimes can’t have.” Magnus answered refusing to look at either of them. 

“Okay, so it’s not a want. It’s more of a need, we haven’t seen him in almost a week Magnus.” Willing himself not to look at either of them. Because, Magnus knew then he’d lose his cool with both of them, “At least now until today, and he’s avoiding us, and you’ve been and are being a barrier around him.” Was he? Maybe Magnus was, but only because no one else had been. Alec needed a friend. That had been what Jace said. 

What Magnus wanted was for both of them to leave, because while he was doing well to hold his own feelings back from them. Alec was due to come anytime now, unless he had chosen go skip lunch. Which Magnus was hoping that Alec hadn’t done that. Lunch had barely started thankfully, but there was still no sign of Alec.

“ _Magnus?_ ” _Count_ _Bane, they want a rise out of you, to get something they don’t deserve to know._ The last straw was when Izzy pushed Magnus’ shoulder, and her hand was still laying upon it. _Count again Bane, because_ _if you don’t you’ll regret it._ Pushing a deep breath out, Magnus finally locked eyes with both of them. “Isabelle, darling do be a _dear_ and remove your hand from my shoulder, or I’ll do it for you.” His eyes cold and rather lifeless looking. 

“Magnus…” Isabelle stumbled feeling sort of spooked by how he was looking at her. After feeling her hand quickly move away. Only then to be cuffed on Jace, “Ohhh do make a scene, I’m sure that’s what everyone’s waiting for.” Looking around the cafeteria, watching the casual glances looking their way.

Which Jace quickly let go of Magnus’ shirt and pulling back. “Now, I believe we’re done here.” Magnus stayed as he sat back down, watching as they both gaped at him from his peripheral sight. “But we’re not, we haven’t even found out anything about Alec!” Magnus turned his head towards this. “And why do you believe you have the right to know?” Saying it quietly, but deadly enough that he saw a tremor or at least a shiver. 

“Because we’re his family…” Magnus almost wanted to laugh at this. If they were his family then  _ they _ shouldn’t have treated him like they had. 

Magnus knew that he should keep his mouth closed, but that was the last straw for him. Isabelle and Jace were acting all high and mighty and it pushed Magnus over the edge. “Family,” scoffed Magnus and Izzy’s eyes widened while Jace looked quite shocked, because Magnus’ voice was cold like ice and his eyes were dark with hatred towards the other two. “Some family you two are. You know… maybe your parents could be more old fashioned and narrow minded, but not you two!” snapped Magnus and the other two looked at each other as they didn’t know where Magnus was aiming with that.

“Huh?” asked Jace and Magnus rolled his eyes.

“No seriously, tell us,” said Isabelle and pressed her lips together, stepping towards Magnus as she wanted to have a proper conversation, but Magnus was so over it. He was done with those two, acting like they didn’t know what he was talking about. Alec was heartbroken that day when he came to him… saying that his family hated him and that he couldn’t stand being home. So how did they have the nerve to-

“Do you know that Alexander was in tears when he came to me that evening?” snapped Magnus and Isabelle flinched, then looked over at Jace, who didn’t buy it. Maybe Bane was just trying to make them feel bad. “Yes,  _ Jace, _ ” hissed Magnus and then clicked with his tongue, feeling beyond annoyed. His heart was hammering against his ribcage and he felt adrenaline overflowing through his body and he couldn’t control what was coming out of his mouth anymore. It wasn’t his fault, the two of them pushed his buttons and Magnus was fuming with anger. 

“Why was he in-” started Jace, but Magnus interrupted him, because he was so fucking pissed.

“Oh I don’t know,” hissed Magnus. “Maybe it’s because he was thrown out of his house after he came out to his family. Maybe it’s because his siblings didn’t stand up for him. And maybe it’s because he says that all of you hate him for who he is,” said Magnus, speaking fast and both Jace and Izzy’s eyes widened, jaws dropped, because they weren't’ expecting that. “You know you two should be fucking ashamed of yourselves. When he came out to me, I-”

“Magnus?” stammered a voice behind him and Magnus turned around, seeing a very shocked Alexander standing there.

Watching Alexander’s twisted expression of disbelief, shock and anguish. Magnus knew that engaging with them was a mistake. “Alexander—I…” There were no real words to express just how sorry he was. Because between their—Jace’s and Isabelle’s confused looks and Alexander’s hurt ones. That wasn’t what happened that night, he’d never pry Alexander to talk about what happened. Not that Alexander had been all that willing to talk. 

“I can’t believe you.” Alec was in a state of shock, and disbelief that Magnus of all people would do this to him. “H-how could you?” stammered Alec as tears of betrayal welled up in his eyes and he quickly made a step back when Magnus wanted to come closer to him, Magnus feeling shivers running up his spine as he wanted to cry when he realised his mistake. He had just revealed Alec's secret to Jace and Izzy; it wasn't on purpose, but… 

“Alexander,” stammered Magnus as his lower lip was shaking. He felt cold and just… terrible. He didn't mean to, he really didn't. And Alec. He was just a mess, not daring to look at his brother and sister as he was terrified and he swallowed back the tears as he didn't want to make a scene. “I didn't-” he whispered and Alec gave him a stern look. What should he do now? He couldn't return back home as everyone hated him. But he also couldn't go back to Magnus’ because he betrayed his trust and-

“I  _ trusted  _ you,” said Alec as he was fighting back his tears. 

“Alec…” It was Izzy, knowing she didn’t really have a right to say much here. Especially after how she’d treated him, it wasn’t just her though. It had been Jace too, but Jace was just standing there with his head bowed away.

Alec hadn’t looked her way, in the last few moments since she’d said his name. There was no doubt that Alec was going to. 

No one had realized that Simon had came up on them, completely unaware of what had happened. “What’s going on?” Especially after watching Alec leave when he’d realized Simon had came up. 

“Nothing Sheldon..” Magnus said as he brushed past Simon going after Alec. 

“Magnus, wait..” It was Jace who’d grabbed Magnus wrist. “He’s going to want to be alone, especially..” Jace said, “That’s the thing, he doesn’t exactly want to be alone. But now it’s just he doesn’t have anyone he feels he can trust.” Magnus bit back a sob. “What’s worse is I betrayed that..” Magnus own world felt like it tilted after seeing Alec’s features. What was he supposed to do? He couldn’t just leave Alexander alone. “I just did the most hurtful thing..”

**Author's Note:**

> The M rating change sets up for chapter 7 we giving you a little something! Somuntil then we how you are loving it!


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